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Obesity has been associated with a 36% increase in health care spending, and treating the obese patient can be medically challenging. This article provides a brief overview of treating patients who are obese or overweight, and how urologic nurses can educate their patients and others on treatment options. The impact of healthy diet and exercise, as well as considering overweight individuals without bias or prejudice, are discussed.
© 2010 Society of Urologic Nurses and Associates Urologic Nursing, pp. 242-245.
Key Words: Obesity, overweight, body mass index, stress urinary incontinence, lower urinary tract symptoms, erectile dysfunction, fertility, stone formation, renal diseases, prostate cancer, kidney cancer, bladder cancer, testicular cancer.
The latest figures from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (2009a) indicate that obesity in the U.S. is a significant public health problem. Obesity, defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or above, is calculated using height and weight information. Calculating BMI can be done using the formula located in Figure 1 or by using the calculators located within the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (2009) Web site. The most recent data available from the CDC's (2009a) Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) state that the presence of obesity in American ranges from 18.7% (Colorado) to 32% (Mississippi). Thus, no state achieved the Healthy People 2010 objective (19-2) of reducing the proportion of adults who are obese to 15%. This objective is presently a Healthy People 2020 objective (HP2020-02) and has been retained in its present format (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services [DHHS], 2009).
According to Mokdad and associates (2003), obesity rates grew nationwide by 74% between 1991 and 2001. In 2000, the latest figures available, overweight and obese Americans cost the U.S. economy an estimated $117 billion (DHHS, Office of the U.S. Surgeon General, 2000), and $61 billion were spent in direct medical costs; the remainder was associated with indirect costs, such as lost work time, disability, and loss of income due to premature death. Results from a CDC (2009b) study reveal that annual medical costs associated with obesity increased from 6.5% in 1998 to 9.2% in 2006. Overall, this computes to individuals who are obese spending $1,429 annually, in 2006 dollars, for medical care, or 42% more than...