Dtsch Arztebl Int
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Overweight and obesity are an increasingly serious public health problem in Western societies, including Germany. The tendency of overweight and obese people not to classify themselves as such limits the efficacy of information on the health risks of these conditions and lessens the motivation to change behavior accordingly. In this article, we summarize the available study data on the selfperception of weight class. We present and discuss the differences between selfreported body-mass index (BMI) category and the actual category of the BMI when it is calculated from the individual's measured height and weight. ⋯ The self-assignment of BMI categories is often erroneous, with underestimates being more common than overestimates. Physicians should take particular care to provide appropriate information to persons belonging to groups in which underestimating one's BMI is common, such as overweight people and men in general.
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About 2 million adults in Germany harbor an unruptured intracranial aneurysm (IA). Rupture can lead to a life-threatening subarachnoid hemorrhage. If an IA is detected incidentally in cranial imaging, it must be decided how to proceed. ⋯ Patients with unruptured IA should be massessed and managed individually. It is also important that risk factors should be treated, if present. Eligible patients are currently being recruited for a phase III clinical trial on the efficacy of blood pressure reduction combined with acetylsalicylic acid intake to counteract inflammatory processes in the arterial wall.