Obesity in female life--from molecular to clinical aspects

Obesity gains increasing prevalence world-wide. Multifactorially caused it presents itself in numerous heterogeneous phenotypes with a wide spectrum of clinical symptoms. The full-blown female obesity syndrome is initiated already in childhood, associated with ovarian hyperandrogenaemia (polycystic ovary syndrome) in the reproductive phase, and characterised by increasing co-morbidity (cancer; metabolic syndrome; arteriosclerosis) in the postmenopausal state leading to shortened longevity. Due to the complexity of psychic, somatic and endocrine-metabolic disturbances a causal break-through in the treatment of the disease could not be achieved yet, but the enhanced basal understanding and recently investigated pharmaceutical principles might enable to improve the therapeutical approaches.