Obesity is a growing global health crisis that significantly contributes to chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disorders, hypertension, and certain cancers. It is recognized as a multifactorial condition influenced by genetic, environmental, behavioral, and psychological factors. Traditional obesity management approaches, which predominantly focus on dietary modifications and increased physical activity, often fail to produce sustainable long-term results. As a result, there is an increasing emphasis on multidisciplinary approaches that integrate dietary interventions, physical activity, behavioral therapy, pharmacological treatments, and bariatric surgery to address obesity more comprehensively.
Obesity Management in a Multidisciplinary Approach Multifaceted in nature, the management of obesity requires teamwork that involves different health professionals from diverse fields, such as dietitians, exercise physiologists, psychologists, endocrinologists, and bariatric surgeons. They work best at offering individualized and global approaches to overcome the lifestyle challenges and the psychosocial issues that impact weight loss success. This approach emphasizes behavioural and psychological strategies, including evidence-based methods such as cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT), mindfulness-based stress reduction for managing stress and other triggers that lead to emotional eating, and achieving sustainable lifestyle changes.
Pharmacological interventions are a critical component in obesity management, especially in those patients who do not respond to lifestyle changes alone. GLP-1 receptor agonists and orlistat are two examples of medications shown to help with weight loss. Bariatric surgery is the most effective intervention for patients with severe obesity, resulting in durable and clinically meaningful weight loss, improved metabolic control, and resolution of obesity-related comorbidities. Nevertheless, surgical solutions demand complete support pre-operatively and post-operatively to be successful in the long run.
This systematic review synthesized evidence from 30 studies to assess the effectiveness of multidisciplinary approaches for managing obesity. The results show that combining different modalities yields superior and longer-lasting weight loss to those delivered by a single modality. Moreover, multidisciplinary care enhances patients' psychological well-being, quality of life, and metabolic health. While the results are encouraging, adherence, access, and long-term feasibility are challenges for widespread implementation.
It also discusses future directions in obesity management, including the potential for mobile health applications, telemedicine, and wearable technology to promote patient engagement and monitoring. Such multidisciplinary approaches can transform obesity care by tackling the underlying causes of the disease and delivering personalized, patient-centred interventions. These results highlight the need for multidisciplinary approaches that focus on preventive care and holistic treatment models as healthcare systems move to help alleviate the global burden of obesity and improve long-term health outcomes.