Guideline Central Blog

World Obesity Day is an annual event intended to unify healthcare communities in rallying behind the common goal of tackling the obesity crisis. The theme for World Obesity Day 2023 is “Changing Perspectives: Let’s Talk Obesity”, which focuses on harnessing the power of conversation and obesity awareness to improve obesity care by addressing misconceptions and stigmatizations, and embracing shared-decision strategies to help foster effective, actionable changes in improving health outcomes for patients with obesity. 

In support of these efforts to improve obesity care and mitigate this preventable health crisis, this article will overview the various clinical practice guidelines related to the prevention, treatment, and management of obesity.

Prevention, Evaluation, and Weight Management

1. Obesity Algorithm: Chronic Disease of Obesity (2023 Update Coming Soon)
   • Society: Obesity Medicine Association (OMA)
   • Published Date: January 2021
2. Obesity Algorithm: Nutritional Management of Obesity (2023 Update Coming Soon)
   • Society: Obesity Medicine Association (OMA)
   • Published Date: January 2021
3. Adult Weight Management
   • Society: Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND)
   • Published Date: October 2022
4. Management of Adult Overweight and Obesity (OBE)
   • Society: Veterans Health Administration / Department of Defense (VHA/DoD)
   • Published Date: April 2022
5. Low-Carbohydrate Nutrition Approaches in Patients with Obesity, Prediabetes and Type 2 Diabetes
   • Society: Consensus and Physician Experts
   • Published Date: February 2020
6. Medical Care of Patients with Obesity
   • Society: American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE)
   • Published Date: July 2016

Pediatric Obesity

1. Evaluation and Treatment of Children and Adolescents With Obesity
   • Society: American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
   • Published Date: January 2023
2. Multicomponent Behavioral Treatment of Obesity and Overweight in Children and Adolescents
   • Society: American Psychological Association (APA)
   • Published Date: March 2018
3. Pediatric Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery
   • Society: American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS)
   • Published Date: October 2018
4. Pediatric Obesity—Assessment, Treatment, and Prevention
   • Society: Endocrine Society (ES)
   • Published Date: January 2017
5. Pediatric Weight Management
   • Society: Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (AND)
   • Published Date: December 2017

Obesity Pharmacotherapy

1. Pharmacological Interventions for Adults With Obesity
   • Society: American Gastroenterological Association (AGA)
   • Published Date: October 2022
2. Pharmacologic Management of Obesity(2023 Update Coming Soon)
   • Society: Obesity Medicine Association (OMA)
   • Published Date: January 2021
3. Pharmacological Management of Obesity
   • Society: Endocrine Society (ES)
   • Published Date: January 2015

Surgical Interventions

1. Management of the Bariatric Surgery Patient(2023 Update Coming Soon)
   • Society: Obesity Medicine Association (OMA)
   • Published Date: January 2021
2. Indications for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery
   • Society: American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS); International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders (IFSO)
   • Published Date: October 2022
3. Intragastric Balloons in the Management of Obesity
   • Society: American Gastroenterological Association (AGA)
   • Published Date: April 2021
4. Perioperative Nutritional, Metabolic, and Nonsurgical Support of the Bariatric Surgery Patient
   • Society: American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE); American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS); American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA); The Obesity Society (OS); Obesity Medicine Association (OMA)
   • Published Date: November 2019
5. Integrated Health Nutritional Guidelines for the Surgical Weight Loss Patient: Micronutrients
   • Society: American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS)
   • Published Date: January 2017

Obesity Comorbidities

1. Obesity Algorithm: Managing Adiposity-Related Diseases(2023 Update Coming Soon)
   • Society: Obesity Medicine Association (OMA)
   • Published Date: January 2021
2. Diabetes Standards of Care 2023
   • Society: American Diabetes Association (ADA)
   • Published Date: December 2022
3. Diagnosis and Management of Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease in Primary Care and Endocrinology Clinical Settings
   • Society: American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE)
   • Published Date: May 2022
4. Lipid Management in Patients with Endocrine Disorders
   • Society: Endocrine Society (ES)
   • Published Date: September 2020
5. Management of Dyslipidemia and Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease Algorithm
   • Society: American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists (AACE)
   • Published Date: October 2020
6. Primary Prevention of Cardiovascular Disease
   • Society: American College of Cardiology (ACC); American Heart Association (AHA)
   • Published Date: March 2019
7. Primary Prevention of ASCVD and T2DM in Patients at Metabolic Risk
   • Society: Endocrine Society (ES)
   • Published Date: July 2019
8. Diagnosis and Management of Non-Alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease
   • Society: American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases (AASLD)
   • Published Date: September 2017

With an estimated 1.9 billion people expected to be living with obesity by 2035, the World Obesity Day’s initiatives to change perspectives and empower our patients through conversation and shared decision-making is as pressing as ever.

Thankfully, the future of obesity prevention, treatment, and management is promising, with new drugs and treatments on the horizon, and providers now having an increasingly better understanding of obesity as a multifactorial disease. Using a guidelines-based perspective to provide evidence-based obesity care helps shape our approach to clinical decision-making in a way that best supports the improvement of health outcomes for our patients with obesity.