Acting sooner can help patients tackle obesity

Health care workers uniquely positioned to start conversations about obesity.

The AMA’s journal, the Medical Journal of Australia (MJA), this week features an Insight+ article calling on health care professionals to place a more prominent focus on patient obesity. Unhealthy weight is second only to smoking as a contributor to the burden of disease in Australia. Obesity, a modifiable risk factor, is hence an important area for intervention and the reduced incidence of chronic disease.

Timely intervention is important as, left unchecked, for a patient who is overweight it takes on average six years for them to raise it with their health care professional of their own volition. 

“Health care professionals are in a unique position to drastically improve our patients’ lives by providing them with the knowledge and skills they need to start living a healthy life and reduce their risk of serious illness.”