Obesity and respiratory diseases
Hot topicsChairs: Emiel F. M. Wouters (Maastricht, Netherlands), Bartolome R. Celli (Boston, United States of America)
Aims: Obesity is a disorder that is characterised by low-grade chronic systemic inflammation. It associates with respiratory comorbidities and is a rapidly evolving field. Recent new insights into pathophysiology and treatments are improving our approach in this area. The recent increase in obesity prevalence, especially in developed countries, is considered to be a pandemic: the WHO estimates that over one billion people worldwide are overweight and, of those, around 300 million are obese. This is double the prevalence that was recorded 20 years ago. Obesity is thus an emerging critical health problem. Awareness of this problem should be increased, and prevention and management should be improved. This session highlights important current controversies in obesity and respiratory comorbidities and their management and treatment.