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Doctors Urged to Sceen for Obesity

YahooNews:
All adults should be screened for obesity and obese patients should be offered intensive counseling and behavioral interventions to help them achieve and maintain a healthy weight, says a new report by the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.

The report, which appears in the Dec. 2 issue of the Annals of Internal Medicine, says doctors should screen for obesity using the body mass index (BMI). This is a valid and reliable screening test, the task force report says.

People with a BMI between 25 and 29.9 are considered overweight and people with a BMI of more than 30 are considered obese.

The report also suggests doctors consider measuring patients for centrally located body weight, which is independently associated with cardiovascular disease.

Men with a waist circumference greater than 40 inches and women with a waist circumference greater than 35 inches are at increased risk for cardiovascular disease. But the report notes these measurements may be inaccurate for people with a body mass index (BMI) greater than 35.

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