Percepção da doença e de risco na obesidade: revisão sistemática

BACKGROUND:  Obesity has been described as a chronic, multifactorial and evolutionary disease, putting the lives of individuals at risk. OBJETIVE: The objective of this study was to perform a systematic review on the perception of the disease and the risk in obesity between January 2004 and January 2018. METHOD: The Lilacs, SciELO, MEDLINE, PubMed, PsycINFO and Web of Science databases were searched of Science, studies investigating the perception of the disease and the risk of obesity based on behavioral and social theories that help to understand why adults engage in risky behaviors. RESULTS: From 577 references, seven studies met the inclusion criteria. It has been found that obese individuals have difficulty understanding their disease as a chronic disease that requires continuous efforts to control it. The evaluation of the perception of risk of obesity did not promote individual preventive actions of the disease nor the adoption of appropriate behaviors to improve health status. CONCLUSION: Risk perception is a construct that assists in the understanding of obesity and can subsidize practices of behavior change intervention in patients.