by Yemi Oluboyede
The 3rd UK Congress on Obesity was hosted by Nottingham University from 19th – 20th September this year. This was my second UKCO meeting and, like last year, I received a warm and friendly welcome. This year I was invited to contribute to the first Association for the Study of Obesity (ASO) symposium ‘Should we be adopting a less weight-centred approach’ Chaired by Dr Judy Swift (University of Nottingham). The aim of the symposium was: To examine the scientific and ethical value of non-anthropometric measurements and outcomes in clinical practice and obesity research. Other contributors to the symposium included Professor Paul Aveyard (University of Oxford), presentation title: The importance of weighing both as an outcome and as a behaviour change tool and Dr Rachel Pryke (Royal College of General Practitioners), presentation title: The risks of weighing children – and adults.
I presented from a health economist’s perspective, the Innovations in measurements: Quality of life and economic evaluation. I took the opportunity to explain the challenges faced by health economists in undertaking economic evaluations for weight management interventions aimed at the younger population in terms of being able to measure health related benefits and the availability of instruments that can be used for this population. I also used the opportunity to present some of the work undertaken by Katherine Carr, our placement student from Sheffield University (Sheffield supervisor: Anju Keetharuth), who evaluated the measurement properties of the Weight-specific Adolescent Instrument for Economic evaluation (WAItE), a new condition specific quality of life tool, for her masters dissertation project. Finally, I presented three recent case studies of economic evaluations of weight management programmes (targeted and preventative) aimed at the younger population.
Overall, the range of topics and the number of high quality sessions at the conference was excellent. The conference organisers, presenters and delegates made UKCO2016 a resounding success. Thanks for a brilliant conference!