[Croatian National Consensus on diagnosis and treatment of obesity]

Obesity is one of the leading public health problems. Over half of women and two thirds of men in Croatia are either overweight or obese, and about one fifth is overweight. Especially worrying is the rising prevalence of obesity in children and adolescents. Obesity is a chronic disease characterised by metabolic and endocrine disorders, resulting in serious chronic complications. The Croatia Obesity Society was founded in 2002 under the umbrella of the Croatian Medical Association and has so far organised two national congresses on obesity. At each congress a national consensus on diagnosing and treating obesity was adopted. Taking into account that treating obesity only with recommendations about dieaty modification and increased physical activity has not given satisfactory results, the 2006 Congress Consesus recommends an earlier start of pharmacologic therapy and surgical treatment of obesity compared to 2003 Congress Consensus. We expect that the new recommendations will improve diagnostics and treatment of obesity in Croatia.