Garvey’s career spans decades of influential work, including leading the UAB Diabetes Research Center, securing NIH and other funding, and shaping national guidelines for obesity and diabetes treatment.W. Timothy Garvey, M.D., a professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, recently contributed to a groundbreaking global commission that called for a major overhaul of obesity diagnoses, recommending a shift away from relying solely on body mass index, or BMI, to more accurately define obesity as a disease.
Current obesity diagnoses rely on BMI, which can misclassify health status and lead to negative outcomes. The Commission on Clinical Obesity recommends using additional measures, such as waist circumference or fat measurement, to improve accuracy. They also propose two new categories: “clinical obesity,” linked to chronic organ dysfunction, and “pre-clinical obesity,” indicating varying health risks without illness. The commission calls for personalized, evidence-based care for all individuals with obesity, free from stigma and tailored to these distinct categories.
A key concept from the Lancet Commission on Obesity is the difference between “pre-clinical obesity” and “clinical obesity.” Pre-clinical obesity refers to people who have excess fat but are otherwise healthy, without any major health problems. On the other hand, clinical obesity is when excess fat causes or contributes to health issues like sleep apnea or osteoarthritis, or even more serious conditions like Type 2 diabetes or cancer.
While lifestyle changes can help prevent complications in those with pre-clinical obesity, more intensive treatments are needed for those with clinical obesity, as they are more likely to benefit from weight loss interventions.
“These concepts hopefully will contribute to rational management and optimal outcomes for a common disease that has effective but expensive treatments, in particular, the new second-generation obesity medications based on GLP-1 receptor agonism,” Garvey said.
At UAB, Garvey holds the C.E. Butterworth, Jr., M.D., Professorship in the Department of Nutrition Sciences. He serves as associate director of the UAB Comprehensive Diabetes Center and director and principal investigator of the UAB Diabetes Research Center.