Assessment of Pre-clinical and Clinical Obesity in Young Adult Bengali Females in the context of Lancet Commission 2025 Definition

Abstract: Obesity has been characterized as excessive adiposity in the body which manifests its signs and symptoms in varying degrees and is subject to individual health make up. Classifying obesity as a disease was itself a challenge because of its varying etiologies, manifestations and complications. Although obesity was considered by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a risk factor for other chronic systemic complications, recently, obesity has been termed as a disease separately for its ability to cause direct systemic alterations. The Lancet Commission (2025) has redefined obesity as a disease extending it into two distinct forms – Pre-clinical and Clinical Obesity, with specific diagnostic criteria. The present study was done to assess pre-clinical and clinical obesity in context of the given criteria on 233 young adult Bengali females attending higher educational institutes of Kolkata, West Bengal, India, using BMI in combination of other anthropometric indicators of adiposity like WC, WHR and WHtR. It is found that more precise and refined estimates of the magnitude of pre-clinical obesity was found in combined estimates of any one and any two additional indicators along with BMI (51% and 46% respectively) compared to that of BMI alone (54%). The study also presents few possible implications of the new definition given by the Commission at the Indian society at large.