"Graves problemas epidemiológicos en México" La Obesidad, Sobrepeso y Síndrome metabólico

Abstract

Obesity and the metabolic syndrome are complex and heterogeneous clinical entities with a strong genetic component, whose expression is influenced by environmental, social, cultural and economic factors, among others. The parallel increase in the frequency of obesity and the metabolic syndrome is a worldwide phenomenon and in Mexico it is not the exception. In addition to this, these pathologies are important risk factors for the development of type 2 diabetes, coronary artery disease and cerebrovascular disease due to arteriosclerosis, which are the main causes of death in our country. The control of these metabolic alterations; however, at present there are no effective prevention, diagnosis and treatment strategies for most of the cases. For these reasons, obesity and the metabolic syndrome have become a serious public health problem in Westernized countries. In the last two decades, information on obesity and metabolic syndrome has grown rapidly, which has led some health systems in the world and numerous scientific societies to form groups of experts that analyze this information permanently. In Mexico, the efforts made by the National Institutes of Health, Federal Reference Hospitals and High Specialty Hospitals for the development of basic and clinical obesity research are numerous; however, the dissemination of results and communication among researchers is still not enough. There is no master plan that indicates achievements and tasks to be developed.