Pharmacological management of obesity

Abstract

Obesity is a chronic disease associated with excess body fat that is due to imbalance in energy consumption from diet and energy expenditure from metabolic and physical actions. Obesity is a growing health crisis worldwide with increasing prevelance and mortality rate. The management of obesity is aimed to reduce the body weight of an individual and maintain the lost weight overtime. Some recommend pharmacological therapy used in managing obesity includes orlistat, liraglutide, naltrexone-bupropion, phentermine-topiramate. Some surgeries that can be used to manage obesity includes laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB), Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch. This thesis focuses on the concept of obesity, factors leading to obesity, obesity as a risk factor for other diseases, consequences of comorbidity with obesity and management of obesity.