Obesity can have as serious an impact as cancer on a child's quality of life and should be considered a long-term chronic disease, a Dubai conference heard.
Doctors also warned weight-loss drugs should only be used as part of a long-term approach to beating obesity, rather than a quick fix that would be unsustainable in the long run.
The experts made their comments at the Live Lighter summit in Dubai on Tuesday. “Not only is obesity a disease, but it is chronic, meaning patients will live with it all their life,” said Dr Amer Al Derazi, a specialist of bariatric surgery in Bahrain.
"It’s also progressive, so as time goes on, we know it will become worse and is associated with more than 200 health problems. We know that obese people live, in general, 10 years less than their normal weight counterparts. By treating obesity, you actually gain life.”
Life-limiting condition
Obesity is closely associated with diabetes and hypertension, and is also associated with 13 types of cancer.
“By reducing obesity, we can actually prevent or reduce the incidence of these cancers,” Dr Al Derazi said. “To highlight how bad the impact is of obesity on children, research on the quality of life of obese children showed it to be similar to that of a child with cancer receiving chemotherapy – that shows the impact it has.”
The World Health Organisation warns that children with obesity face adverse psychosocial consequences caused by their condition, which "affects school performance and quality of life, compounded by stigma, discrimination and bullying".
Obese children as likely to remain that way as they grow up and are also at a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, neurological disorders, chronic respiratory diseases and digestive disorders. A study released last month by the American Cancer Society warned that childhood obesity increased the risk of hypertension, dyslipidemia, depression and obstructive sleep apnoea.
To maximise the benefits of weight-loss drugs such as Wegovy, which mimic the effects of appetite-suppressing hormones, doctors said they should be used alongside lifestyle changes such as following a healthy diet, exercising regularly and having better sleep.
Dr Ahmed Nowier, an expert in public health and nutrition in Egypt, said about a third of his patients lost more than 20 per cent of their initial weight through using the medications.
“We are talking about effectiveness for the long term. It is a lifetime commitment for efficient outcomes,” he said. “Like any other medication, it has side effects, but the question is how to manage expectations and how to avoid them."
Side effects such as gastrointestinal issues are a "physiological signal that the body is adapting", he added.
National issue
In the UAE, about 27 per cent of adults are obese, while 40 per cent of children are either overweight or obese, health studies have shown. Weight-loss drugs are usually only available under health insurance if patients meet certain criteria, such as having a very high BMI and can show evidence of lifestyle changes.
"Obesity is a challenging disease to treat and around 40 to 60 per cent of obesity has a genetic background,” said Dr Khaled Al Nemer, a consultant and professor of cardiology and coronary angiography in Saudi Arabia. “To treat obesity is to admit that it's a chronic, relapsing disease. We should think always about the wider health benefit, the cardiovascular benefit, improving productivity and social well-being.”
Long-term reliance on medication is expensive, however, with monthly costs set at between $150 and $300, depending on the dose. Those prices could come down once pharmaceutical patents expire around the world, opening the door for generic pills to be mass produced.
“Weight management was a big challenge in health care for decades,” said Cecilia Radu, general manager at Novo Nordisk UAE, whose parent company is behind Wegovy. “We have reached that point where we have an efficient solution through medication. Now we are approaching another milestone where we move from the injectable towards orals.
“It was just launched in the US this month and we’ve seen a good uptake there. Now we are in discussions with the local [UAE] authorities with the preparation for launch.”
