What is Morbid Obesity?
When a person’s obesity is causing bad effects on overall health to the point of significantly increasing the risk of one or more obesity-related health conditions or co-morbidities, he/she is said to be morbidly obese.
Morbid obesity is a chronic disease with symptoms that build slowly over an extended period of time. It is defined as being 100 lbs or more over your ideal body weight, having a BMI of 40 or higher, or having a BMI of 35 or more and one or more comorbid conditions.
These are medical conditions that are related to, or made worse by obesity. These are called co-morbidities because they are largely caused by the obesity itself and are categorized as major or life-threatening problems, and minor or more common conditions that are not as life threatening.
Major co-morbidities include the following:
- Type II Diabetes
- Hypertension (high blood pressure)
- Hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol, etc.)
- Heart Disease
- Sleep Apnea Syndrome
- Obesity Hypoventilation Syndrome
- Asthma
- Pseudotumor Cerebri
Minor co-morbidities include the following:
- Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)
- Degenerative Arthritis
- Depression
- Urinary Incontinence
- Menstrual irregularity and infertility
Morbid obesity increases the risk for a shorter life expectancy especially for individuals whose body weight exceeds twice their ideal body weight. This brings with it an increased risk of diabetes or heart attack up to seven times greater than in non-obese persons. For these people, control of their obesity can be a matter of life or death.