Obesity and Cardiovascular Disease Management: 3 Pearls for Primary Care

Patient Care: What are three takeaways from our discussion that you feel are most important for our primary care physician audience?

Monu Khanna, MD: In my opinion, when I think about obesity and cardiovascular disease, I believe obesity is at the root of most cardiovascular disease. Yes, cardiovascular disease can occur without obesity, but that’s a much smaller fraction. At the core of both is suboptimal metabolic health—leading to unhealthy weight, increased plaque formation, and ultimately cardiovascular problems. So addressing that is essential.

The first takeaway is for primary care physicians to keep an open mind and build a strong rapport with patients—so they feel comfortable discussing sensitive topics. Unfortunately, much of the weight stigmatization patients experience happens within the medical system. Being aware of that and learning how to talk about weight in a positive, non-stigmatizing way is really important.

The second takeaway is that this is a pivotal time in obesity medicine. We’re at the edge of major innovation, with multiple new medications recently approved for effective obesity management. These treatments also dramatically reduce cardiovascular risk.

So the third takeaway is: get educated. Join the Obesity Medicine Association if you're interested, or pursue training. We now have many more tools in our toolbox to help our patients—and that’s a great place to be.