Obesity Management in Primary Care During and Beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic

With 6.1 million US cases as of early September 2020, the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic is presenting unprecedented challenges to primary care. As a complex multifactorial chronic disease, obesity is a significant risk for severe COVID-19 complications associated with high morbidity and mortality. Sustainable lifestyle changes and weight loss can be effective to address obesity and its complications. With COVID-19 expected to persist for the foreseeable future, treatment and prevention of obesity is more imperative than ever. We summarize how obesity management and lifestyle counseling can be incorporated and applied in primary care during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
Highlights - COVID-19 is presenting unprecedented challenges to primary care services - Obesity is one of the major risk factors for severe complications of COVID-19 - Obesity management and lifestyle counseling is even more imperative during COVID-19 - Obesity management can be incorporated in primary care during and beyond COVID-19