Tirissa J. Reid

People with obesity commonly face a pervasive, resilient form of social stigma. They are often subject to discrimination in the workplace as well as in educational and healthcare settings. Research indicates that weight stigma can cause physical and psychological harm, and that affected individuals are less likely to receive adequate care. For these reasons, weight stigma damages health, undermines human and social rights, and is unacceptable in modern societies. To inform healthcare professionals, policymakers, and the public about this issue, a multidisciplinary group of international experts, including representatives of scientific organizations, reviewed available evidence on the causes and harms of weight stigma and, using a modified Delphi process, developed a joint consensus statement with recommendations to eliminate weight bias. Academic institutions, professional organizations, media, public-health authorities, and governments should encourage education about weight stigma to facilitate a new public narrative about obesity, coherent with modern scientific knowledge.

BACKGROUND: Traditionally, acromegaly evaded diagnosis until in its clinically obvious later stages when treatment is more difficult. Over the last 25 years diagnostic tests have improved, but whether clinical disease detection also improved was unknown, so we tested if disease severity at diagnosis had changed from 1981 to 2006. METHODS: Data on 324 consecutive acromegaly patients presenting from 1981 to 2006 at two New York City hospitals were collected by retrospective review (n = 324) and by interview (n = 200). The main complaint, acromegaly associated comorbidities, signs, symptoms, healthcare providers visited, preoperative GH and IGF-I levels and pituitary tumour size at diagnosis were compared in patients presenting in the earlier vs. later halves of the time period. RESULTS: Times from symptom onset to diagnosis were 5.9 year (early) vs. 5.2 year (late; P = NS). At diagnosis, 96% of early and late groups had facial feature changes and/or hand/foot enlargement. Comorbidities included hypertension 37% (early) vs. 36% (late), carpal tunnel syndrome (24%vs. 24%), sleep apnoea (13%vs. 29%; P < 0.01), osteoarthritis (25%vs. 23%) and diabetes mellitus (18%vs. 15%); each patient had 1.2 (early) vs. 1.3 (late; P = 0.53) comorbidities. Groups were similar in signs, symptoms, tumour size, GH and IGF-I. CONCLUSIONS: Clinical, biochemical and tumour size characteristics at diagnosis of acromegaly patients were unchanged from 1981 to 2006. Most patients still have marked manifestations of acromegaly at diagnosis, suggesting that acromegaly remains clinically under-recognized. Healthcare professionals should more commonly consider acromegaly, which can lead to earlier diagnosis and better treatment outcome.

BACKGROUND: Given India's high rate of TB, rising burden of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and growing elderly population, elderly TB patients may be at higher risk of adverse outcomes including death, loss-to-follow-up (LTFU) and treatment failure. This may call for modifications in their management. This study thus aimed to compare the profile and treatment outcomes between elderly (≥60 years) and non-elderly (15-59 years) TB patients. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study using routinely-collected programme data from a chest clinic in Delhi, India. It included all elderly and selected non-elderly TB patients registered for treatment between 2005 and 2010. Data on patients' clinical and demographic characteristics and treatment outcomes were analysed. RESULTS: There were 812 elderly and 1624 non-elderly TB patients. Elderly patients were more likely to be male (63.2% vs 51.1%) and have smear-positive TB (56.0% vs 47.4%). Adverse outcomes were more frequent among elderly patients (adjusted OR 1.9, 95% CI: 1.5-2.4), specifically deaths (adjusted OR 5.0, 95% CI: 3.1-8.1) and lost-to-follow-up (adjusted OR 1.4, 95% CI: 1.0-1.9). CONCLUSIONS: The profile and worse outcomes of elderly Indian TB patients may be indicative of co-existing NCDs. This needs further investigation and likely calls for a more comprehensive and intensive approach to their management.