PHCC’s dietetics programme shows significant BMI reduction among overweight and obese
OBESIT is a worldwide epidemic and one of the risk factors for many diseases, including heart disease, diabetes mellitus, kidney disease and cancer.
Reducing body weight is the first line of treatment in most of these diseases. Qatar Biobank annual report in 2022 reported that more than 0 percent of the population in Qatar is either overweight or obese.
The high rates of bariatric surgery carried out in Qatar is also alarming, with almost 2,000 cases per year carried out at Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC). The healthcare cost of obesity and diabetes is very high. Approximately QR2 billion is spent annually on the treatment of diabetes and this is expected to rise to QR4.9 billion in the next 15 years.
To tackle the rising rates of obesity, the rimary Health
Care Corporation ( HCC) provides dietetics services through trained dietitians. The service was initiated to support overweight and obese adults reduce their body mass index (BMI) through a dietetic programme.
HCC undertook a study to evaluate the effectiveness of
HCC’s dietetics services led by Dr Muhammad Tanveer Alam, consultant family physician from Airport Health Center. The study which is published in the American Journal of ifestyle Medicine found
HCC’s programme supports BMI reduction of up to 10 percent in overweight and obese subjects.
The study further reported that the median time for weight reduction was 3.2 years, with women showing earlier significant weight loss than men. The patients with 3-5 number of visits had earlier significant weight reduction than those with less than three visits and more than 5 number of visits.