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From a young age, Dr. Manisha Chand knew she wanted to go into healthcare. "I cannot recall a time when I wanted to be anything other than a doctor," she shares. While her choice of specialties has evolved over the years, her passion for healthcare has remained constant.

Pediatric Obesity has become a global crisis, driving surge in type 2 diabetes among youth and threatening to overwhelm healthcare systems with early onset complications. This article explores the urgent need for a world-wide effort of research, legislative action, and community initiatives to tackle this impending public health disaster.

As a certified women’s health nurse practitioner, I frequently work with female patients who are seeking obesity care. I know the Obesity Medicine Association (OMA)’s members understand obesity as a chronic disease, but it’s also an important women’s health issue.

Effective October 1, 2024, new ICD-10-CM codes for both adult and childhood obesity will become available, representing a significant shift in the way obesity is diagnosed and managed in clinical settings.

Metabolic associated liver disease (MASLD) is the most common chronic liver disease globally, linked to obesity and insulin resistance, with a growing prevalence in children. Early life factors such as maternal BMI, gestational diabetes, and breastfeeding play crucial roles in influencing the risk and progression of MASLD, highlighting the need for further research and preventive measures.

Highlighting Advocacy: Providing care to patients with obesity can be complex. The Obesity and Advocacy joint statement from the Obesity Medicine Association and the Obesity Action Coalition 2024 provides a clinical focus, an action-based framework, and a guide for health care providers.

Understand the link between inflammation, obesity, and how the Dietary Inflammatory Index can help mitigate health risks associated with chronic inflammation.

The Obesity Medicine Association (OMA) is the oldest and largest organization of clinicians in the obesity treatment space. In 2024, it partnered with Project ECHO to create the program entitled, Treating the Disease of Obesity. Ethos of this program includes (1) obesity is a chronic and relapsing disease and (2) the use of person-first language (eg. “the patient with obesity” instead of “the obese patient”). The first session was in February 2024 by Dr. Angela Fitch, the Past President of OMA. She presented the four core pillars of clinical obesity treatment. Content from this presentation is described in this blog article.

Article Summary This article examines the incidence of slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE) trends due to rising obesity rates. Healthcare providers need to monitor those pediatric patients that has the disease of obesity which is a compelling risk factor for developing SCFE along with hypothyroidism, osteodystrophy, or genetic predisposition. During this decade long study the incidence of SCFE surged from 2.46 to 5.96 per 10,000 children which according to the authors had a mirroring increase with childhood obesity trends. The authors analysis showed a similar concurrent rise of SCFE and obesity trends, however, they emphasized not trying to imply causality. Obesity is a major risk factor for developing SCFE in the pediatric population, which often presents with hip abnormalities.. The marked increase in SCFE during the same decade as the rise in obesity may indicate correlation between the two trends. The observation however did highlight one of the risk factors being obesity which could increase one’s risk of developing SCFE.