What Health Conditions Are Linked to Obesity?

Medically Reviewed by Brunilda Nazario, MD on January 06, 2023
Written by Nichole Bazemore
4 min read

Excess weight plays a big role in our health and life expectancy. Of course, other things -- like how active you are, your waist size, and what conditions run in your family -- also matter.

Still, certain conditions are strongly linked to, or even caused by, excess weight and obesity. Obesity is a known risk factor for other conditions. It is a chronic and progressive condition that has several treatment options.

But don't panic, you can start to turn things around with a small amount of weight loss. If you’ve tried before to lose weight, or lost weight and gained it back, there are lots of factors that come into play and cause weight gain and obesity.  Many people try to lose weight on their own with diet and exercise only to regain it back. This is not because of a lack of willpower or even the wrong diet. With support and the right healthcare team, you can cut your chances of getting these weight-related conditions.

Obesity is a major risk factor for heart disease. This condition increases the risk of high blood pressure, heart attacks, heart failure, and arrhythmias.  Obesity can also increase your risk of strokes and damage to blood vessels in the brain and can contribute to dementia and Alzheimer's disease.

In type 2 diabetes, your body’s blood sugar level is too high. It doesn’t handle insulin as it should.

Over time, your body starts to resist insulin or can’t make enough of it to control your blood sugar levels. If your blood sugar stays too high for too long, you could get other complications, like vision problems, infections, heart failure, and chronic kidney disease.

You’ll want to check with your doctor to find out if your blood sugar level is in the normal range. If you find out that you have prediabetes or diabetes, you’ll want to start a treatment plan right away. You might need to take medicine to get your blood sugar under control, help prevent complications of diabetes, and help you lose any excess weight. If you already have diabetes, you may be a candidate for weight loss surgery, also known as bariatric and metabolic surgery, as a treatment for your diabetes. 

This is a combination of conditions that put you at risk for other problems, like heart disease, diabetes, or stroke. For example, you might be overweight, especially around your waistline, and have high blood pressure, high blood sugar, as well as cholesterol problems.

A checkup can tell you if you’re at risk. One simple thing you can do is to use a tape measure to check your waist. If it’s more than 35 inches for women, or more than 40 inches for men, you’re more likely to have weight-related health problems.

There’s a link between BMI and the risk of certain cancers, such as breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and cancers of the kidney, pancreas, and thyroid. 

Of course, people who aren’t overweight can get cancer, too. So just like anyone else, it’s important for you to keep up with any recommended cancer screening tests that your doctor recommends.

You develop this type of arthritis after the tissue that cushions your bones, called cartilage, wears down as you age. Osteoarthritis is painful and most often affects your spine, knees, hands, and hips.

Extra pounds put more pressure on your weight-bearing joints. As you start to lose weight, you’ll feel and move better, and your joints will have less stress.

When you have this sleep disorder, the muscles of the back of your neck and throat collapse, and can’t keep your airways open while you’re asleep. This makes you stop breathing for seconds at a time. It causes snoring and interrupted sleep.

You might not know that this is happening. But having obesity or being overweight, a complex condition means your body holds on to excess body fat. One of the biggest risk factors for obstructive sleep apnea is excess weight and obesity which is a complex condition in which your body holds on to excess weight. A decrease in breathing reduces oxygen to tissues and can lead to heart disease. Afib and other heart conditions are seen in people with sleep apnea. 

Your gallbladder produces bile, a fluid that helps break down the food you eat. Sometimes if there is too much cholesterol in your bile it can harden and form painful “stones.”

Doctors aren’t sure why, but they do know that if you’re overweight or obese, you’re more likely to get gallstones. Change to: Gradually losing weight can help prevent gallstones from forming. But be careful. Too fast a weight loss can actually raise the risk of getting gallstones.

Many things cause women to stop having their periods or cause infertility including normal aging. Women with excess weight may have irregular periods or skip ovulation. If you’re a woman who’s been trying to get pregnant and it’s not happening, it’s a good idea to see a doctor. There could be many causes, but dietary and lifestyle changes or medications that address weight, can help improve fertility if it’s related to excess body fat. 

As we age our metabolism slows down, during this time the number of women aged 40-65 that are overweight or have obesity is about around 65%. 

Men this age have similar rates of obesity although women tend to have greater rates of severe obesity, a category of BMI of 40 or more. This is linked to worse health outcomes. When excess body fat accumulates around the waist, it is linked to diabetes.

Men with excess weight also face the same risks of health complications related to excess body fat. 

They also might get ED, erectile dysfunction, or infertility.