Weighing Obesity Surgery Risks For Teens

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(excerpt)

Surgery has been effective in treating extreme obesity in adults.
Researchers want to find out if adults and adolescents who have the
surgery have significantly different health problems and whether there
is any benefit to having the operation earlier in life.

The researchers are responding to the growing problem of extreme
obesity among the young.

"We know bariatric surgery is effective for weight-loss. We just need
to carefully document how teenagers respond," said Dr. Thomas Inge,
associate professor of pediatrics and surgery at Cincinnati Children's
Hospital Medical Center, which is leading the study.

Recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
suggest that about 2 million U.S. adolescents may be severely obese
and have complications of obesity previously seen only in adults.

While adult weight-loss surgery still is more common, an estimated
2,744 youngsters nationwide had the operations from 1996 through 2003,
with the pace tripling between 2000 and 2003, according to an earlier
study co-written by Inge.

The doctors expect their research will show that severe obesity in
teens is associated with medical and psychosocial problems which may
be more effectively treated during adolescence than waiting until
adulthood.