Nutrition & Obesity Publications
Winter 1999
Getting the Word Out on Obesity Treatment
Effort to Promote Clinical Guidelines Continues
On June 17, 1998, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI), together with the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), released the first Federal clinical guidelines on identifying, evaluating, and treating overweight and obesity in adults. Since then, the Institutes have continued to work to provide primary care practitioners, as well as the public, with the information they need to address overweight and obesity.
The Clinical Guidelines have received widespread television, newspaper, and magazine coverage as well as publication in scientific journals. The Guidelines received more than 430 million audience impressions in June alone, according to Karen Donato, coordinator of NHLBI's Obesity Education Initiative.
The Guidelines themselves, as well as most of their supporting and supplemental material, have been published by the Government Printing Office and are also available from NIDDK's website at www.niddk.nih.gov/welcome/releases.htm.
Educational materials derived from the Guidelines include the Practical Guide (an abbreviated, "user-friendly" version of the Guidelines), an executive summary, evidence tables, body mass index calculations, practical tips, and appendixes. A slide kit and a pocket guide, which will be a short form of the Guidelines, are under development.
NHLBI, NIDDK, and the National Task Force on Prevention and Treatment of Obesity are discussing ways to assess the impact of the Guidelines on primary care physicians. The North American Association for the Study of Obesity is developing a continuing medical education (CME) course on the Guidelines.