How useful are clinical guidelines for the management of obesity in general practice?

Obesity Treatment Recommendations in the Philippines:Perspective on their Utility and Implementation in Clinical Practice

“…Gandjour, et al 12 reported the development process of evidence-based guidelines for the treatment of obesity in Germany and pointed out the fundamental questions that should be addressed in the process. Similarly, Mercer 13 critically appraised the usefulness of guidelines in the management of obesity by illustrating how UK NICE guideline 43, one of the most comprehensive guidelines ever published on obesity, fit in the clinical practice setting. Many of the concepts and challenges in obesity guideline development and implementation discussed in these excellent reviews apply to the current examination of the two sets of Philippine obesity practice recommendations.…”

Impact of lifestyle in middle-aged women on mortality: one article and many questions

“…One example is in the prescription of statins where we have seen over a sixfold increase in prescribing, 5 and a recent comparison of data from 14 developed nations showed that the UK ranks second in terms of utilisation. 6 The improvement in cholesterol and blood pressure management seen in primary care has been substantial; however, we also know from the Health Survey for England 7 and cohort studies 8 that there has been little improvement in the nation's blood pressure, although the percentage of men on treatment has Cardiovascular disease beyond the QOF real patients, competing agendas, and paucity of evidence, one might easily get despondent despite a strong desire to achieve the best for one's patients.…”

“…6 In a recent edition of the BJGP Mercer gave a balanced review of the NICE clinical guidelines on obesity for general practice. 7 He highlights deficiencies in the data underpinning the recommendations: little of the evidence is derived from studies focused on a primary care setting, conducted in the UK, or involving patients rather than volunteers. To a greater or lesser degree, Mercer's observations are generalisable to all the NICE guidelines on lifestyle modification.…”

Obesity guidance

“…Mercer's discussion paper 1 on the for most western chronic diseases (including obesity) rather than obesity per se. 5 So, is it time to focus our resources on finding the best ways to achieve and sustain increased levels of physical activity and improvements in diet within primary care, rather than focusing on the unproductive symptom of obesity and increasing its societal stigma?…”

“…1 They emphasise the importance of primary care in supporting adherence to lipid lowering treatment and lifestyle advice including exercise. Exercise is highly topical in view of the 2012 London Olympics and two recent UK government initiatives 'Be usefulness of clinical guidelines for the management of obesity in general practice is commendable and yet raises serious concerns.…”