From Blog Posts To Guidelines

Yesterday saw the release of the long-awaited Canadian Adult Obesity Clinical Practice Guidelines.

Getting to these guidelines was a long journey, that started well before the decision, about three years ago, to begin the daunting task of assembling the steering committee, the chapter authors, the literature review, the crafting of recommendations, the rating of recommendations, preparing the publication and the actual launch.

Looking back, I realise that many of the so-called “novel” concepts included in the guidelines, stem back to topics and ideas about obesity, its nature, its causes, and management that I have thought about and discussed on this blog almost a decade ago.

To illustrate this thought process, I have provided links to some of my previous posts on topics which have now found their way into the guidelines.

They certainly make for some interesting reading:

October 2007: Why I Don’t Like BMI

March 2008: Obesity Classification: Time to Move Beyond BMI?

April 2008: Recognising Barriers Key to Obesity Management?

August 2008: Obesity is a Sign, Overeating is a Symptom

February 2009: Edmonton Obesity Staging System

October 2009: Do Mental Health Problems Predict Obesity?

Novermber 2009: The M & Ms of Obesity Assessment

August 2011: Weight Loss is Not a Goal

September 2011: The 5 As Approach To Obesity Counseling

It is indeed humbling to realise just how many of these ideas, first discussed in these decade-old blog posts, are now reflected in the new CPGs.

@DrSharma
Edmonton, AB