Obesity

2024/07/03

Obesity cannot be brushed aside as a cosmetic problem. It is, in fact, a medical condition with serious consequences to one's health. A chronic disease involving accumulation of excess body fat, obesity increases the risk of medical conditions such as diabetes mellitus and high blood pressure (hypertension), and shortens your life span.

Fortunately, obesity can be treated by a multidisciplinary approach involving our team of dedicated weight management experts at the NUH's Centre for Obesity Management and Surgery (COMS). By addressing key areas and causes, the team can ensure successful and sustainable weight loss.

Collapse All | Expand All

What is Obesity

The World Health Organisation (WHO) defines obesity based on Body Mass Index (BMI). The definition of obesity among Singaporeans and Caucasians is BMI =27.5 and BMI =30 respectively.

Classification of Obesity and its treatment

BMI	Category	Health Risk	Suggested Treatment
23 to 27.4	Overweight	Moderate	Diet and Exercise
27.4 to 32.4	Obese	High
32.5 to 37.4	Severely Obese	Very High	Consider obesity surgery
37.5 and above	Morbidly Obese	Very High

* BMI values for Asian population according to MOH guideline NIH Concensus Conference.

Co-morbidities

Obesity adversely affects most of our organs. Some of the common diseases related to obesity are listed

Co-morbidities

Programme package

Criteria

Adult with BMI more than 27.5 could be classfied as obese

Assessment and therapy

Personal Consultations with our doctors
Diet Management Sessions
Exercise Therapy Sessions
Behaviour Modification Session

Our Weight Management Programme starts with a thorough assessment of your current health status.

For further information and enquiries, please contact the University Surgical Centre.

How is our programme organised?

There are many causes that may contribute to weight gain and to develop obesity. Hence, only a multidisciplinary approach can identify the different factors and engage a programme that leads to necessary reduction in weight.

Multidisciplinary Approach Programme

Dietary management

You can lose weight as long as you eat healthy. Let out dietitians assess your diet patterns and suggest modifications to keep the weight under control.

Exercise/Physical therapy

Coupled with dietary changes, exercise offers the most effective approach for weight loss. Our physiotherapist will be at hand to prescribe exercise routines to meet your specific requirements.

Behaviour modification

Lifestyle changes play an important role in your fight against obesity. Our behavioural therapists will recommend changes necessary to sustain a healthy lifestyle and achieve long-term weight loss.

Medical therapy

Our physicians will conduct a thorough health assessment to check for possible underlying causes of obesity and prescribe suitable medical treatment.

Surgery

Individuals with a BMI greater than 32.5 are advised to consider surgery for obesity (also referred as "Bariatric Surgery") when all other treatment options have been unsuccessful. Surgery enables you to successfully lose weight and treat obesity-related diseases. It also helps to sustain your weight loss for years, thus improving overall quality of life.

Surgical options for weight loss

Surgery has proven to be an effective treatment for patients who are morbidly or severely obese for the last 4 decades. It is in fact backed up by a recent study of more than 22,000 patients that patients could expect to lose more than 60%* of their excess weight after bariatric surgery. Another study showed that following surgery, up to 80%* of patients experienced complete resolution or improvement of their co-morbid conditions, such as diabetes, hypertension and sleep apnoea.

In the last 10 years, with the "keyhole" or minimally invasive surgery, bariatric surgery has become much less invasive than the conventional surgery. Bariatric Surgery usually involves a modification of the digestive tract with the aim of reducing the size of gastric reservoir with or without reducing the ability of the gut to absorb food.

There are four surgical procedures available at NUH:

Surgical Options
1728, Assessed 13 November 2009
+ Courtesy of Ethicon EndoSurgery and ++ Allergan Inc.

Prior to surgery, each patient will be assessed by our multidisciplinary team. Here, it is also emphasised that lifestyle changes such as healthy eating and regular exercise are essential to sustain weight loss after surgery.

Doctors