Weight problems has been acknowledged as a illness by the World Well being Group since 1997 and is outlined because the “irregular and extreme accumulation of fats that will impair well being”.
“It’s a actual scourge of our society as a result of it’s a complicated illness that impacts hundreds of thousands of individuals and is among the main causes of lack of life worldwide. Essentially the most extreme type of weight problems, morbid weight problems, is a critical illness with an unprecedented unfold within the final thirty years, which has now reached the proportions of a world epidemic”, factors out Dr. Panagiotis Lainas MD MSc PhD, Deputy Director of Common Surgical procedure on the Metropolitan Hospital & accountable of the Weight problems Division of the Healthspot Diagnostic Facilities of the HHG group.
In response to the Group for Financial Co-operation and Growth (OECD), roughly 4.8 billion folks worldwide are obese and a pair of billion of them are overweight, whereas by 2035 the overweight are estimated to have doubled to 4 billion, with half of them having a illness weight problems.
Our nation, sadly, has one of many highest charges of weight problems in Europe, with 22.5% of the inhabitants in Greece (18.2% of girls and 26% of males) affected by the illness based on the newest measurements. As well as, Greece is among the European nations with the very best charges of childhood weight problems. “The above knowledge might clarify the frenzy noticed in current weeks in our nation concerning the try to shed weight with the assistance of semaglutide, despite the fact that the drug available on the market has no indication for weight problems. A frenzy that highlights in a distorted means the fixed battle of many individuals with their weight, a battle for his or her well being and the development of their every day life”, he says.
Surgical therapy of weight problems
As Dr. Lainas says, “It’s now scientifically confirmed that weight problems is related to plenty of critical well being issues, a few of which might even result in loss of life. On condition that the conservative therapy of weight problems has restricted prospects and excessive socio-economic prices, in recent times, many individuals resort to bariatric surgical procedure, i.e. the specialization of surgical procedure that offers with the combat in opposition to weight problems.
The wonderful outcomes of weight problems surgical procedure and the curiosity of the worldwide scientific group have led to important progress in understanding the pathophysiology of weight problems. This, in flip, has led in recent times to the manufacturing of focused medication that help within the therapy of the illness. Medicines, nevertheless, alone can’t obtain what surgical procedure can. However, surgical procedure may be enhanced and assisted in lots of circumstances by treatment in an effort to obtain excellent weight and remission or therapy of co-morbidities triggered or aggravated by weight problems.
It’s subsequently crucial to have enough and correct details regarding the advantages and unwanted effects of anti-obesity treatment, in addition to regarding which sufferers actually profit from it,” he emphasizes.
Pharmaceutical therapy of weight problems
Immediately, the world’s hottest anti-obesity drug is semaglutide, which was developed for diabetes by the Danish pharmaceutical firm Novo Nordisk underneath the title Ozempic. Though the European Medicines Company has accepted semaglutide in opposition to weight problems, its advertising and marketing for this indication has not been attainable in European nations, with only a few exceptions. As an alternative, it’s extensively marketed in the US of America underneath the commerce title Wegovy.
Semaglutide is an analog of the glucagon peptide GLP-1. As an agonist of the GLP-1 receptor, it selectively binds to it and prompts it. Its major actions are the next:
Lowers blood glucose ranges by stimulating insulin secretion and lowering glucagon secretion when blood glucose ranges are excessive.
It causes a slight delay in gastric emptying through the early postprandial section.
It reduces urge for food and subsequently power consumption leading to weight reduction.
Reduces fasting and postprandial glucose concentrations in sufferers with sort 2 diabetes
“As a result of effectiveness of the drug in weight reduction, it’s pure that it attracts the curiosity of people who find themselves obese or overweight. Nevertheless, medical doctors ought to clarify the next factors to events:
-Semaglutide is an antidiabetic drug and an injectable one at that. This is essential data, as within the Greek well being system the prescription of antidiabetic medication requires the affected person to be registered within the diabetic registry. Nevertheless, it may be administered with out registration within the EOPYY with a easy physician’s prescription, however its price shouldn’t be lined, which is kind of important per week.
The advantages of the drug are noticed whereas it’s being taken and stop following therapy is stopped, with re-gain of the misplaced weight normally.
-In response to scientific research, this drug permits weight lack of solely 5% to twenty% (at finest) of the sufferers’ complete weight.
-Semaglutide typically causes undesirable signs, primarily nausea, whereas circumstances of serious hair loss have additionally been reported, unwanted effects not negligible for the sufferers’ every day life.
Lastly, it is extremely essential to emphasise that weight problems is a persistent illness brought on by a large number of things (psychology, food plan, bodily exercise) and can’t be cured with any pharmaceutical preparation”, explains the skilled.
Conclusion
“It’s clear from the newest scientific knowledge that treatment with new medication comparable to semaglutide is one other weapon within the specialists’ quiver in opposition to morbid weight problems. However, bariatric surgical procedure has persistently produced long-term outcomes with a secure lack of 70-100% of extra weight and minimal post-operative follow-up necessities, making it the one confirmed long-term efficient therapy for morbid weight problems.
The mixture of bariatric-metabolic surgical procedure and drugs is certain to open new horizons, offering the best resolution to the persistent and tough downside of weight problems and its accompanying ailments. A mixture that must be advisable by specialised groups of skilled surgeons and endocrinologists to rigorously chosen sufferers, in an effort to obtain one of the best end in every case”, concludes Dr. Lainas.
Supply: RES-MPE
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