The relationship between obesity and other medical comorbidities

Abstract Introduction Prevalence of obesity is increasing at an alarming rate, fast becoming a global menace, and been associated with long-term comorbidity disease and the obese are more fold likely to develop these chronic diseases. Method ology: A retrospective cohort study that employed a self-administered questionnaire of 17 medical comorbidity lists from Charlson Comorbidity Index CCI. The aim was to show the relationship between obesity and other medical comorbidities among 86 patients visiting Hospital Universiti Sains Malaysia HUSM. Patient self-reported outcome was used to obtain history of chronic diseases Descriptive and one-way ANOVA test was used to show demographic data and the relationship between obesity and other medical comorbidities respectively. Results The association detected by the study between the mean difference of BMI among the comorbidity groups was not significant, F(3, 82) = 0.82, P–value = 0.489, however, the mean BMI of patients in the “Severe-category” 34.8(S.D = 4.66) was higher than in the None-category mean: 32.10(SD=12.38), implying that the “Severe-categories” are more obese and have more severe comorbid conditions. Conclusion The trend showed an association between obesity and medical comorbidities in which patients with higher BMI are associated with more comorbid condition. However, a more drastic approach and further researches are needed to ensure adequate weight loss therapy to checkmate chronic illnesses.