Centre for Obesity Research and Epidemiology

Obesity - A 'Health Time Bomb'

The prevalence of obesity is an escalating problem in both adults and children globally. Obesity has been described as a “health time bomb” by the UK Chief Medical Officer, while the World Health Organisation considers obesity to be a global epidemic and states that: “If immediate action is not taken, millions will suffer from an array of serious health disorders”. This is a direct consequence of obesity-related co-morbidities that confer an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, cancer and osteoarthritis. The direct cost of obesity to the Scottish Health Service was estimated at £171 million per annum in 2001; the US direct health costs attributed to obesity in 2006-7 were estimated at US$ 75 billion.

Despite such serious medical effects and cost implications, there are no universally accepted clinical management pathways for obesity and effectively no integrated solution to deal with the evolving epidemic.

The Centre for Obesity Research and Epidemiology (CORE) was formed in response to this need, and collaborates with internationally recognised experts in obesity to provide an infrastructure for research within primary care, clinical and socio-economic contexts. The Centre’s focus is on an integrated approach for the development of practical methods to identify reduce the prevalence of obesity.

The Centre’s research portfolio encompasses:
- Clinical research
- Anthropometry & body composition studies
- Health economics
- Psychosocial aspects of obesity
- Physiology and behaviour
- Education in the healthcare system
- Nutrition, drugs and drug development
- Obesity and cancer

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