Obesity Author: George A. Bray, MD
Editorial changes - 2008-10-10
Author information and module status
Prevention
Screening
Diagnosis
Consultation for Diagnosis
Hospitalization
Non-drug Therapy
Drug Therapy
Patient Education
Consultation for Management
Follow-up
Tables
Figures
References
Glossary
What's New
Patient Information
Additional Resources
Tools
Quality Measures Quality Measures
Drug Therapy
  • Consider drug therapy for patients with a BMI 30 kg/m2, or 27 kg/m2 with comorbidities such as hypertension, diabetes, or dyslipidemia.
  • Recognize that OTC herbal preparations sold for weight loss have limited efficacy and safety data.
Drug Treatment for Obesity (table)

Consider drug therapy for patients with a BMI >=30 kg/m2, or >=27 kg/m2 with comorbidities such as hypertension, diabetes, or dyslipidemia. A

  • Consider using drug therapy for obese patients with BMI >=30 kg/m2 who:
    • Have failed with other treatments
    • Are using lifestyle modifications that have been unsuccessful or are no longer effective
  • Consider using drug therapy for obese patients with BMI >=27 kg/m2 who:
    • Have sleep apnea
    • Have diabetes mellitus (see module Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2)
    • Have hypertension (see module Essential Hypertension)
    • Have dyslipidemia (see module Lipid Disorders)
    • Are being considered for surgical intervention
  • Consider discontinuing drug therapy, switching to another drug, or combining drugs:
    • If weight loss is less than 2 kg in 2 months
    • If weight loss is <5% after 6 months of therapy
    • If weight loss fails to remain less than 5% below baseline at 12, 18, or 24 months
  • See table Drug Treatment for Obesity.
Background | Back to top


Recognize that OTC herbal preparations sold for weight loss have limited efficacy and safety data. C

Background | Back to top

FAQs
George A. Bray, MD, is a speaker for Eli Lilly, Amylin Corp., and Merck & Co, received grants from Merck & Co., and Takeda Pharmaceuticals; and has consulted for Sanofi-Aventis, Merck, and Amylin.

The information included herein should never be used as a substitute for clinical judgment and does not represent an official position of ACP. Because all PIER modules are updated regularly, printed web pages or PDFs may rapidly become obsolete. Therefore, PIER users should compare the date of the last update on the website with any printout to ensure that the information being referred to is the most current available.
PIER is copyrighted (c) 2008 by the American College of Physicians,
190 N. Independence Mall West, Philadelphia, PA 19106-1572, USA.