Italy has several obesity guidelines available included one that is endorsed by the Italian Obesity Society.īased on interviews/survey returns from 4 stakeholders There appears to be no specialist obesity training available in Italy but stakeholders reported that is a reasonable number of health professionals capable of treating obesity in urban areas but insufficient numbers in rural areas.
Stakeholders said people tended to fall out of the system because they do not or stop losing weight and because of the lack of clinical care pathways and specialised obesity clinics. The exception to this was bariatric surgery, for which there is public coverage but long waiting lists. As investment into obesity prevention and treatment was reported to be poor (particularly for childhood obesity) and there was poor coverage of treatment and diagnostic exams, it was suggested that treatment was mostly paid for out of pocket or via private health insurance. Stakeholders reported that individuals typically entered the system via the gatekeeping general practitioners and paediatricians and from there they would be referred onto specialists (such as endocrinologists, nutritionists and dieticians). Since the conduction of the interviews and surveys with these stakeholders, however, there has been official parliamentary recognition that obesity is in fact a chronic disease. It was reported that many were particularly receptive to defining obesity a disease because of its relation to cardiovascular issues.
While there was some disagreement among stakeholders about the extent to which the Italian government recognised obesity as a disease, stakeholders agreed that there was more consensus among healthcare providers and professionals. Lack of opportunity for physical activity.Lack of political will, interest and action.Lack of training for healthcare professionals.Please check with original data sources for methodologies used.
Unless otherwise noted, overweight refers to a BMI between 25kg and 29.9kg/m², obesity refers to a BMI greater than 30kg/m².ĭifferent methodologies may have been used to collect this data and so data from different surveys may not be strictly comparable. (2012), WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative 2008: weight, height and body mass index in 6–9-year-old children. I., Hovengen, R., Kunesova, M., Starc, G., Rutter, H., Sjöberg, A., Petrauskiene, A., O'Dwyer, U., Petrova, S., Farrugia Sant'Angelo, V., Wauters, M., Yngve, A., Rubana, I.-M.