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10 November 2015

The Many Paradoxes of Our Modern World: Is There Really an Obesity Paradox or Is It Only a Matter of Adiposity Assessment?

Author: Paul Poirier, MD, PhDAuthor, Article, & Disclosure Information
Publication: Annals of Internal Medicine
Volume 163, Number 11
https://doi.org/10.7326/M15-2435
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We live in a world filled with paradox. Ours is a world in which some persons have famine while others deal with obesity—an epidemic that threatens their health. Obesity is increasing worldwide; currently, more than 2 billion persons worldwide are now overweight or obese (1).
The terms underweight, normal weight, overweight, obesity, and severe obesity refer to a clinical continuum. The Metropolitan Life Insurance Company tables were once used to characterize obesity. Now there are several anthropometric measures to assess adiposity. Presently, body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) are 2 recommended clinical measures to evaluate patients' obesity-related …

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Information & Authors

Information

Published In

cover image Annals of Internal Medicine
Annals of Internal Medicine
Volume 163 • Number 11 • 1 December 2015
Pages: 880 - 881

History

Published online: 10 November 2015
Published in issue: 1 December 2015

Keywords

  1. Body mass index
  2. Cardiovascular disease risk
  3. Cardiovascular diseases
  4. Fats
  5. Hazard ratio
  6. Health surveys
  7. Medical risk factors
  8. Mortality
  9. Obesity
  10. Overweight

Copyright

© 2015 American College of Physicians.

Authors

Affiliations

Paul Poirier, MD, PhD
From Institut Universitaire de Cardiologie et de Pneumologie de Québec, Université Laval, Québec, Canada.
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Disclosures: The author has disclosed no conflicts of interest. Form can be viewed at www.acponline.org/authors/icmje/ConflictOfInterestForms.do?msNum=M15-2435.
Corresponding Author: Paul Poirier, MD, PhD, Institut Universitaire de Cardiologie et Pneumologie de Québec, Université Laval, 2725 Chemin Ste-Foy, Québec G1V 4G5, Canada; e-mail, [email protected].
This article was published online first at www.annals.org on 10 November 2015.

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Paul Poirier. The Many Paradoxes of Our Modern World: Is There Really an Obesity Paradox or Is It Only a Matter of Adiposity Assessment?. Ann Intern Med.2015;163:880-881. [Epub 10 November 2015]. doi:10.7326/M15-2435

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