Telemedicine innovations for obesity: connecting technologies and education for enhanced prevention and treatment

As obesity has reached epidemic proportions globally, posing significant challenges to public health, traditional approaches to obesity prevention and treatment have shown limited effectiveness and multidisciplinary approaches are currently being highlighted to address its clinical, psychological, physical, social and economic correlates . Telemedicine, understood as the set of medical and IT techniques that allow remote patient care and health services, is proving to deliver obesity interventions remotely, overcoming geographical barriers and increasing accessibility to healthcare services through digital platforms, mobile applications, wearable devices and telemonitoring systems. It plays a crucial role in obesity primary, secondary and tertiary prevention as these technologies enable remote monitoring of vital signs, physical activity, and dietary behaviors, providing real-time feedback to individuals and healthcare providers. This paper explores the integration of telemedicine technologies and educational methodologies for the prevention and treatment of obesity (fig.1). As the main objective of the educational path is to increase the quality of life, education plays a pivotal role in obesity prevention, fostering awareness, knowledge and behavior change, beyond simple adherence to diet.