Obesity - Complications of obesity
- Introduction
- Causes of obesity
- Diagnosing obesity
- Treating obesity
- Complications of obesity
- 'Life is so much better at a healthy weight'
- See what the doctor sees with Map of Medicine
- Surgery
- Obesitysymptoms
- obesityprevention
Obesity can cause a number of further problems, from difficulties with daily activities to serious health conditions.
Some of the day-to-day problems that can be caused by obesity include:
- breathlessness
- increased sweating
- snoring
- difficulty doing physical activity
- feeling very tired a lot of the time
- joint and back pain
- low confidence and self-esteem
- feeling isolated
You may also find that some of the psychological problems associated with being obese affect your relationships with family members and friends, and may lead to depression.
Further health problems
Being obese can also increase your risk of many potentially serious health conditions, including:
- type 2 diabetes – a condition that causes a person's blood sugar level to become too high
- high blood pressure
- high cholesterol and atherosclerosis (where fatty deposits narrow your arteries), which can lead to coronary heart disease and stroke
- asthma
- metabolic syndrome – a combination of diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity
- several types of cancer, including bowel cancer, breast cancer and womb cancer
- gastro-oesophageal reflux disease (GORD) – where stomach acid leaks out of the stomach and into the oesophagus (gullet)
- gallstones – small stones, usually made of cholesterol, that form in the gallbladder
- reduced fertility
- osteoarthritis – a condition involving pain and stiffness in your joints
- sleep apnoea – a condition that causes interrupted breathing during sleep, which can lead to daytime sleepiness with an increased risk of road traffic accidents, as well as a greater risk of diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease
- liver disease and kidney disease
- pregnancy complications, such as gestational diabetes or pre-eclampsia (when a woman experiences a potentially dangerous rise in blood pressure during pregnancy)
Obesity reduces life expectancy by an average of 3 to 10 years, depending on how severe the problem is. It's estimated that being overweight or obese contributes to at least 1 in every 13 deaths in Europe.
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