Surgery to Combat Obesity Triples Among U.S Teens

A new research suggests that the number of U.S children having surgery for obesity has tripled in recent years. This type of surgery is surging at a rate that could mean more than 1,000 of these types of operations this year.

The results of the study became public when it appeared in Monday's Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine.

This procedure is still far more common in adults than it is in teens. Although it appears to be slightly less risky in teens, according to an analysis of data on 12-to 19-year olds who had obesity surgery from 1996 through 2003.

During that time, an estimated 2,744 youth nationwide had the surgery. The rates tripled between 2000 and 2003, reaching 771 surgeries that year.

Youth seem to have shorter hospital stays than adults did and none of them died in the hospital during the study period. The study found though that there were 212 in-hospital deaths out of an estimated 104,702 adults who had the surgery preformed in 2003.

Researchers at Robert Wood Johnson Medical School in New Brunswick, New Jersey, and Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center analyzed a database of U.S hospital patients. The surgeries that were preformed on children and adults were both included in the analysis.

The study's co-author Dr. Thomas Inge contributes the rise in teen operations to publicity about celebrities having obesity surgery, including pop singer Carnie Wilson and broadcaster Al Roker.

Dr. Thomas Inge said that the new study suggests the risks outweigh the benefits for most patients. But it left unanswered questions regarding how the teens fared after leaving the hospital. He believes that the surgery during the teen years poses different psychological risks than for adults.

Bariatric surgery involves the reduction in the size or restriction of the stomach in order to reduce the amount of food a person consumes. Other factors play into making the surgery a success. For long-term success of this surgery one must eat less and have a change in their appetite. The new small stomach will make the patient feel full with only a small amount of food intake.