Pharmacological Management of Obesity: An Endocrine Society Clinical Practice Guideline
Caroline M. Apovian, Louis J. Aronne, Daniel H. Bessesen, Marie E. McDonnell, M. Hassan Murad, Uberto Pagotto, Donna H. Ryan, and Christopher D. Still
Objective: To formulate clinical practice guidelines for the pharmacological management of obesity.
Participants: An Endocrine Society-appointed Task Force of experts, a methodologist, and a medical writer. This guideline was co-sponsored by the European Society of Endocrinology and The Obesity Society.
Evidence: This evidence-based guideline was developed using the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development, and Evaluation (GRADE) system to describe the strength of recommendations and the quality of evidence.
Consensus Process:Onegroupmeeting, several conference calls,ande-mail communications enabled
consensus.CommitteesandmembersoftheEndocrineSociety,theEuropeanSociety of Endocrinology, and The Obesity Society reviewed and commented on preliminary drafts of these guidelines. Two systematic reviews were conducted to summarize some of the supporting evidence.
Conclusions: Weight loss is a pathway to health improvement for patients with obesity-associated risk
factors and comorbidities. Medications approved for chronic weight management can be useful adjuncts
to lifestyle change for patients who have been unsuccessful with diet and exercise alone. Many medications commonly prescribed for diabetes, depression, and other chronic diseases have weight
effects, either to promote weight gain or produce weight loss. Knowledgeable prescribing of medications, choosing whenever possible those with favorable weight profiles, can aid in the prevention
and management of obesity and thus improve health. (J Clin Endocrinol Metab 100: 0000–0000, 2015).....
