However, there are different types of obesity classified by their severity.
It also describes the impact of obesity on your health and other ways that obesity is diagnosed in adults.
Photo by Alex Tihonov / Getty Images
What Is Obesity?
Photo by Alex Tihonov / Getty Images
Obesity is mainly diagnosed based on your body mass index (BMI).
Obesity and Morbidity
Obesity independently increases the risk of morbidity (illness).
This includes disease-specific deaths and “all-cause mortality” (death from all causes).
A 10-year study published inPLoS Oneexamined the impact of obesity on the heart health of 1,248 adults with obesity.
This is especially true of males with Class 3 obesity.
However, as a tool, BMI has its limitations.
At the same time, being very short or very tall can lead to misinterpretation of BMI.
Those with excess body fat and normal organ function would be described as having “pre-clinical obesity.”
Summary
Obesity is defined as a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or greater.
The higher the class, the greater the risk of obesity-related illness and death.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Assessing your weight.
Celio AC, Pories WJ.A history of bariatric surgery.Surg Clin N Am.
2025;13(2):75. doi:10.1016/S2213-8587(25)00004-X
