The American journal of medicine
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Abdominal obesity contributes to insulin resistance, a metabolic abnormality linked to the development of type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease (CVD). Insulin resistance generally precedes the development of type 2 diabetes. Currently, an estimated 10 million US adults have diabetes and another 25 million have impaired glucose tolerance (IGT), an intermediate step between insulin resistance and diabetes. ⋯ Lifestyle modification is recommended as the first-line treatment for obesity and its metabolic sequelae. Pharmacotherapy may be useful in patients for whom nonpharmacologic approaches alone are ineffective or insufficient. Primary care physicians play a critical role in the early identification and treatment of patients at increased risk for the development of type 2 diabetes and CVD because of their obesity and associated complications.