AROUND 30,000 national health patients in Portugal and 3,000 doctors are to participate in the biggest study ever realised in Portugal to measure the evolution of obesity in this country.
The study, entitled ‘W-Risk – alterations and risk situations examined’, is being carried out this month and in June, and is an initiative of the Associação Portuguesa dos Médicos de Clínica Geral (APMCG), the Portuguese doctors’ and medical practice association, in conjunction with epidemiologist, Massano Cardoso, and a pharmaceutical group.
“Portugal has never been as fat as in the last two decades,” says Massano Cardoso, who is the person responsible for designing the questionnaire. The data collected will be analysed by the Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Social da Universidade de Coimbra.
Study to trace development
of obesity
For Massano Cardoso, this study will work like an “instant snapshot of the country” and will help researchers to evaluate a problem that is a risk factor for serious conditions such as diabetes, cancer and various cardiovascular illnesses.
The study intends to trace the evolution and prevalence of obesity in Portugal and correlate it with other cardiovascular risk factors. Over a period of two months, patients will be screened by doctors, who will each receive a kit with the materials to follow the criteria central to the study, such as scales and a measuring tape to measure the abdominal circumference.
According to the vice president of APMCG, Eduardo Mendes, this is the first time that a study of this nature has called for the support of all the regional health authorities of Portugal and its islands, Madeira and Azores”.
For this doctor, the project reflects “the importance of the issue nationally and at world level”. The World Health Organisation estimates that there are around one billion overweight people in the world and 300 million that are obese.
The results of this study will be analysed from July onwards and will be available before the end of this year.
