How to check obesity?

With the development of the economy, more and more people are living better and better, and the nutritional value of the food they eat is becoming richer. Some friends are born with obesity, but they just think it is ordinary obesity, so they are not so concerned about their own problems. More serious obesity is likely to be obesity. So, how to check obesity? Let’s take a brief look at it with the editor below!

1. Symptoms

It is related to the degree of obesity, and most patients have a history of overeating and/or lack of exercise, and often have a family history of obesity. Mild obesity is usually asymptomatic, while moderate to severe obesity may cause symptoms such as excessive sweating, heat intolerance, shortness of breath, drowsiness, snoring during sleep, joint pain, muscle aches, reduced physical activity, fatigue, anxiety, depression, etc. It is often accompanied by hypertension, dyslipidemia, coronary heart disease, hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance (causing impaired glucose tolerance) or diabetes, hyperuricemia and gout.

2. Physical signs

He appears short, fat and round, with a face that is narrow at the top and wide at the bottom, a double chin, a short and thick neck, and noticeable thickening of the skin folds at the back of the head when he tilts his head back. The chest is round, the intercostal spaces are not visible, and the breasts are enlarged due to the thickness of subcutaneous fat. When standing, the abdomen protrudes forward and is higher than the chest plane, and the navel is deeply sunken. In obese children, the external genitalia are buried in the subcutaneous fat of the perineum, causing the penis to become smaller and shorter. The fingers and toes are short and thick, and the skin on the back of the hand is sunken at the metacarpophalangeal joint due to thickening of fat, making the bone mutation less obvious. Purple or white lines can be seen on the skin, mostly distributed on both sides of the lower abdomen, thighs, upper inner side of the upper arms, and outer side of the buttocks. The wrinkles are easily worn, causing dermatitis and psoriasis.

(II) Main inspections

1. Body mass index (BM1) BMI (kg/m2) = weight (kg) / [height (m)]2, is the most important indicator for diagnosing obesity. Generally, BMI ≥ 24kg/m2 is considered overweight, and ≥ 28kg/m2 is considered obese. In 2004, CDS used BMI ≥ 25 kg/m2 as the diagnostic standard for obesity.

2. Ideal body weight (IBW) IBW (kg) = height (cm) - 105 or IBW (kg) = [height (cm) - 105] × 0.9 (male) or 0.85 (female). If the actual weight of the subject exceeds the standard weight by 20%, he or she is judged as obese, but factors such as muscle development or water retention must be excluded.

3. Waist circumference/waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) The standard in my country is that a waist circumference of ≥90cm for men and ≥85cm for women is abdominal obesity. Asians have a relatively low waist-to-hip ratio. Men with W/H>0.95 and women with W/H>0.85 are considered obese. It is currently believed that measuring waist circumference is the most important clinical indicator for diagnosing abdominal fat accumulation.

4. The commonly used measurement sites for measuring subcutaneous fat thickness with skin fold calipers are the thickness of sebum outside the deltoid muscle and below the scapular angle. For adults, if the sum of the two sites is ≥4cm for men and ≥5cm for women, they can be diagnosed as obese. It is more reliable if multiple sites can be measured.

Patients with obesity must pay more attention to exercise, eat more fresh vegetables and fruits, and avoid eating too much greasy food, otherwise it will aggravate the obesity phenomenon. We must also correctly understand the difference between obesity and simple obesity, and patients with obesity must receive timely treatment.