Obesity care in Chinese adults: from evidence to clinical practice

Abstract

More than 500 million Chinese adults suffered from overweight or obesity in 2023. The pandemic of obesity consumes healthcare and economic resources by imposing enormous burden from its complications such as cardiovascular, kidney and metabolic diseases. In response, China launched a series of important policy changes including “Weight Management Year”, facilitating the engagement of public health, clinical practitioners, industry and stakeholders in different fields. The shift triggered rapid evolution of technologies in obesity care including both treatment and prevention, which added great opportunities for all stakeholders. Nevertheless, challenges exist, including misdiagnosis of obesity secondary to other diseases, population disparity, indirect evidence supported by trials conducted in other ethnic groups, health inequalities and the collaboration across stakeholders with diverse backgrounds. Traditional Chinese diets such as Jiangnan Diet and activities such as Tai Chi represent tradition-based lifestyle interventions that provide Chinese people with cultural benefits. The evolution of technologies, especially digital healthcare and novel medications, will play critical roles in future obesity care in China. Policy makers and clinical and public health practitioners must make every effort to address the urgent crisis posed by obesity pandemic in China.

Keywords

obesity management / China / lifestyle intervention / pharmacotherapy / digital health / multidisciplinary care

Acknowledgements

This study was supported by the National Science and Technology Major Project for Prevention and Treatment of Cancers, Cardiovascular and Cerebrovascular, Respiratory, and Metabolic Diseases (grant No. 2025ZD0550604), National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant No. 72342014) and 1.3.5 project for disciplines of excellence, West China Hospital, Sichuan University (grant No. ZYYC24001). All figures were created by BioRender.com.

Author contributions

Jing An (Writing - original draft), Qingyi Jia (Writing - original draft), Yan Huang (Writing - original draft), Yuzi Cao (Writing - review & editing), Yaqian Duan (Writing - review & editing), Huijie Zhang (Supervision), and Sheyu Li (Supervision).

Conflict of interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest related to the content of this article.

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