Farmacoterapia da obesidade: uma revisão da literatura.

Abstract

Obesity is a widespread disease throughout the world, causing serious damage to health. Its mechanisms cause considerable metabolic changes, in addition to diseases associated with overweight, becoming a serious public health problem. Thousands of people suffer from being overweight, from psychological, endocrine, cardiovascular and locomotor changes, to the state of morbidity. The treatment of obesity is an alternative to control the serious corporal modifications from the non-pharmacological and also the pharmacological therapy. Medications have been great allies in the process of weight loss, but in conjunction with other complementary alternatives, such as physical exercises and changes in eating behavior. The eminent risks of using anorexigenic drugs are a major barrier to obesity control, and further studies are needed to elucidate their mechanisms. Given the paucity of studies on posology, adverse effects and contraindications, a more in-depth approach to the efficacy of these drugs and their actions in the body is necessary. This work sought to gather this information through a review based on detailed searches in the literature, in order to clarify the main actions of anorectics in the pharmacological treatment of obesity. The pharmacist in the treatment of obesity is of fundamental importance, being the professional better able to offer information on the use of anorexigenic drugs and pharmacological therapies associated with obesity, on the risks in the therapy and on the effectiveness of the treatment.