Evaluation and Management of Obesity

By Daniel H. Bessesen, MD and Robert Kushner, MD. Philadelphia: Hanley & Belfus, Inc. $. ISBN: 56053-49-9. 190 pages.

This book is well written and provides practical, useful strategies and tools for caring for obese and overweight patients in an office setting. It features the expertise from leading authorities in obesity care from the Centers for Obesity Research and Education (CORE). Strategies for care range from setting up the size-sensitive physical environment to behavioral change methodologies. Among the tools for care discussed were commercial weight loss programs, pharmacological therapy, physical activity, and surgical approach.

There is a concise discussion of the definition of the scope of the problem of obesity and listing of disorders or symptoms related to obesity. Each of the 22 chapters includes an appropriate reference list. Chapter topics are clinically oriented and speak to expected outcomes. I found the book easy-to-read, well organized, and comprehensive. It provides a nice compilation of all the information, products, and strategies that are being discussed in the medical literature and public media. I would recommend this book to any CNS/APN who provides care to those with chronicities that are exacerbated by or secondary to the illness of obesity.