Essay Sample on Obesity: Investigated Disease Process

Introduction

Obesity is a prevalent condition that exists due to excessive body fat in a person's body (Lavie et al., 2014). It is usually characterized by genetic factors, inadequate exercise, or repeatedly feeding on unhealthy diets. The instrument that is used to determine obesity is called the Body Mass Index (BMI). In this case, obese people have a BMI of 30 and above, which is high. I have mainly selected a topic on obesity because the disease has developed over the years, and it has now become a global health epidemic. Obese people are also prone to other medical conditions such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer, high blood pressure, and joint problems. The rate of deaths caused by obesity and other related disorders has rapidly grown, with about 2.8 million adults dying every year (Bray et al., 2016). Also, obesity is prevalent in these contemporary times due to the different lifestyles adopted by people. As such, it is essential to as a result of address the health issue of obesity to reduce the many cases of deaths globally.

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Pathophysiology

Pathophysiology is the process in the medical field, whereby a disease's method in terms of abnormal states, symptoms, and functional changes are evaluated for diagnosis (Dietz, 2015). Obesity, like any other disease, has its pathophysiological process. First, obesity exists in the body of a person due to the imbalance between caloric consumption and energy expenditure. The inequality is many times concluded that it is the effect of genetic and environmental factors. In these contemporary times, a new perspective of the existence of obesity is embraced. It is believed that unearthing immunologic abnormalities in obesity linked to the leptin-proopiomelanocortin framework and escalated necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a) has resulted in a better way to understand the concept of obesity (Mason, Moroney & Berne, 2013). Leptin, which is a Greek word meaning "thin," is a hormone composed of adipocytes. The adipocytes, when exaggerated, cause a counterbalance by anti-inflammatory and anti-atherogenic adipocyte hormones like visfatin and adiponectin (Mason, Moroney & Berne, 2013). Adiponectin safeguards the body against liver fibrosis because it has anti-inflammatory influence, while TNF-a is responsible for pancreatic insulin release and fatty liver (Deitz et al., 2015).

Obesity is the major contributor to other diseases such as hypertension, insulin resistance, diabetes, and dyslipidemia because of its ability to secrete excessive adipokines, which are mediators manufactured by adipose tissue. As such, obesity produces metabolic dysfunction having glucose and lipid, and that leads to organ dysfunction, which subjects people to chronic diseases.

Standard of Practice for Obesity

Standard of practice in the medical field is the details that offer guidelines of how a particular disease can be diagnosed, and the patients cared for. In this case, the standard of practice for obesity provides a platform for how health-care professionals should give competent care for obese patients, and for the different procedures, obesity should be handled. The standard of practice requires that health professionals carry out every process of obesity diagnosis and treatment following the set guidelines and rules. According to Apovian et al (2015), the standard of practice for obesity requires standard professional care for evaluation, intervention, and diagnostic procedures for obesity and professional operation standards that determine the specific roles the health-care practitioners will play in taking care of the obese patients.

The American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) suggests that it is essential that the standard of practice for obesity to be connected with the knowledge of the pathophysiology of obesity (Apovian et al., 2015). As such, physicians will have a clear insight into the requirements needed to handle obesity. The main reason why the standard of practice for obesity plays a significant role in that, in most instances, obesity treatment does not have evidence-based guidelines that can be transmitted to the actual care of obesity patients. In this case, the standard of practice for obesity helps eliminate inaccurate operation as it relates to obesity management such as obesity, dietary, psychological, behavioral, and physical rules to treatment. The standard of practice for obesity also recommends various measures for obese patients to reduce gaining weight. For example, using different drugs that have an impact on weight gains like antidepressants and antipsychotic drugs and discouraged and the health-care professional prescribe an alternative medication.

Pharmacological Treatments

Pharmacological treatments involve guidelines that advocate for obesity examination and treatment. According to a 2016 guidance on the pharmacological treatment of obesity, the rules required treatment of chronic obesity, including treating comorbid cases, evaluating progress of weight loss for obese patients using medication and professionals using alternative drugs that will ensure weight loss and does not stimulate other medical conditions such as mental health, chronic inflammatory diseases and arthritis (Apovian et al., 2015).

Witten (2016) states that parts of pharmacological treatment should include a proper and healthier diet, exercise, and behavioral alteration. Other measures like bariatric surgery and weight loss medications can work together with behavioral modification to limit food consumption and increase practices. Patients who do not respond well to weight loss procedures may be prescribed to better obesity medication.

Local Outcomes

In my state, the pharmacological treatments applied to obese patients are active. For example, weight loss medication is helpful as it enables obese patients to lose 5% or more of their body weight in 3 months. Also, professionals in my state consider obese people with other medical conditions. For instance, obese patients with Type 2 diabetes are recommended angiotensin, which alters enzyme inhibitors, calcium channel blockers, and angiotensin receptor blockers as a first-line pharmacological treatment for high blood pressure (Apovian et al., 2015). Based on these pharmacological treatments applied in my state, cases of obesity have reduced with 30%.

Clinical Guidelines

Assessment

Clinical practice guidelines also provide practical recommendations through assessment, diagnosis, and patient education to reduce cases of obesity. Clinical practice guidelines suggest that the evaluation of obesity patients should involve the analysis of body mass index (BMI), general medical risk, and waist circumference (Apovian et al., 2015). Estimation of BMI is determined through the multiplication of a patient's weight, majorly in pounds, by 703, and then divided by the height, which is in inches squared. BMI is calculated in kilograms per meter squared (kg/m2) (Apovian et al., 2015). Waist circumference assessment is essential for obese people because it helps evaluate the risks related to obesity by measuring waist circumference by the patient's BMI.

Diagnosis

Clinical guidelines also advocate for the diagnosis of patients with obesity. Diagnosis of obesity involves health-care professionals performing physical tests and examinations. The most common diagnostic test is calculating the BMI of an obese patient. A body mass index of 30 and more is considered high, and the patient is deemed to be overweight. Taking health history is another way in which doctors diagnose obese patients. The physician reviews weight history, exercise habits, eating habits, weight-loss effort, and some other conditions such as stress levels, and medications. From this, the medical practitioner can determine whether or not a person is obese. Having a general physical exam is a diagnosis that involves measuring a patient's height and examining significant signs like blood pressure, temperature, heart rate, and testing the abdomen.

Patient Education

Clinical practice guidelines also focus on patient education for obese people. Patient education plays a significant role in ensuring that patients have adequate knowledge to manage obesity. Patient education can engage the overweight people in a weight loss program. The program can involve identifying a health-care professional who is knowledgeable about managing obesity. The practitioner can help the patients figure out long-term plans to monitor the obesity process and offer them advice effectively on how to control obesity. Patient education can also include the obese patients setting a weight loss goal. Obese people can be educated on using preventive strategies to reach a particular weight loss. For instance, an overweight person can set a goal of losing 5% body weigh-in period of 3 months.

Standard Practice of Disease Management

The standard practice of obesity management is typically the same in most national practices globally. National methods that mainly involve international panels such as the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE) and Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics recommend standard guidelines that high body mass index is determined if an individual has a BMI of 30 and above. At this time, the person with such an index is considered to be obese. In my community, obesity diagnosis of BMI should be conducted yearly, especially for adults. Also, my community supports obesity management being on body composition and not only body mass targets as embraced by most national practices. Focusing on bettering the body composition transforms into risk management of obesity and treating comorbidities.

My community obesity management standards and national practice also have the same way of viewing obesity management. In both cases, obesity management should implement self-monitoring of caloric consumption, create weight loss goals, and initiate physical activity. Other guidelines suggested by both national practice and are also highlighted in my community are a dietary prescription for the obese people, having behavioral therapy, pharmacotherapy, and critical assessment, particularly for bariatric surgery for obese patients.

Managed Disease Characteristics and Resources

Managing obesity is quite an involving process that requires full commitment from obese patients and assistance from health-care professionals. With proper obesity management for the patients, overweight people can start to feel better and out of risk problem of obesity. A patient who manages obesity encounters positive results that lead him/her away from the disease. Obesity is determined when a person's body mass index is over 30kg/m2. In this case, if a person who once had over 30kg/m2 measurement and experienced a lower BMI of 18.6kg/m2 to 24.0kg/m2 is considered to have average weight. According to Turner et al. (2015), a person who manages obesity mainly utilizes therapies. Therapies incorporate pharmacotherapy, behavior therapy, and diet therapy. Diet therapy recommends that obese individuals limit their caloric consumption by 500 to 1000calories per day (kcal/day) from what they used to take. Their diet should also have long-term nutritional modifications to limit caloric intake. Behavior therapy ensures the obese patients comply with physical activities and food intake. Some behavioral policies include stress management, self-monitoring, and social support. Pharmacotherapy is significant for the patients managing high-risk obesity. With this therapy, they will have a long-term treatment that requires medication such as orlistat, naltrexone-bupropion, phentermine-topiramate, lorcasein, and liraglutide. Such medi...