Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2017 Sep;6(3):278-285.
doi: 10.1007/s13679-017-0277-4.

What Is the Evidence for Paediatric/Adolescent Bariatric Surgery?

Natalie Durkin  1 , Ashish P Desai  2
Affiliations
Review

What Is the Evidence for Paediatric/Adolescent Bariatric Surgery?

Natalie Durkin et al. Curr Obes Rep. 2017 Sep.

Abstract

Purpose of review: In spite of the increasing prevalence of severe and complex obesity in children, surgery as a potential management option is still not widely accepted. The purpose of this review is to examine the evidence for surgical options in the severely obese paediatric population. Increasing evidence supports early rather than later use of bariatric surgery in the treatment of extreme obesity.

Recent findings: Prior to 2007, the feasibility and safety of surgery have been reported by predominantly small, sporadic single-centre retrospective case series. Increasing long-term data is now emerging due to the formation of multi-centre prospective national consortiums with two large, prospective long-term outcome studies published within the last year aiding our understanding of the efficacy and safety of bariatric surgery within the adolescent population. It is increasingly clear that adolescent bariatric surgery outcomes are comparable to adults, with similar sustainable weight loss, resolution of co-morbidities and complication rates. However, these studies are solely from dedicated specialist adolescent centres and results may not be reproducible if not performed in regulated environments with specialist multi-disciplinary teams.

Keywords: Adolescent; Bariatric surgery; Benefits; Complications; Paediatric; Sleeve gastrectomy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

References

    1. Freedman DS, Mei Z, Sriniavasan SR, Berenson GS, Dietz WH. Cardiovascular risk factors and excess adiposity among over-weight children and adolescents: the Bogalusa heart study. J Pediatr. 2007;150(1):12–17.e2. doi: 10.1016/j.jpeds.2006.08.042. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Christou NV, Lieberman M, Sampalis F, Sampalis JS. Bariatric surgery reduces cancer risk in morbidly obese patients. Surg Obes Relat Dis. 2008;4(6):691–695. doi: 10.1016/j.soard.2008.08.025. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Kelly AS, Barlow SE, Rao G, Inge TH, Hayman LL, Steinberger J, et al. Severe obesity in children and adolescents: identification, associated health risks, and treatment approaches: a scientific statement from the American Heart Association. Circulation. 2013;128(15):1689–1712. doi: 10.1161/CIR.0b013e3182a5cfb3. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Health and Social Care Information Centre. National child measurement programme 2014–15. Healthy Lives, Healthy People; A call to action on obesity in England. 2011.
    1. Ells LJ, Hancock C, Copley VR, Mead E, Dinsdale H, Kinra S et al. Prevalence of severe childhood obesity in England: 2006–2013. Arch Dis Child 2015. - PubMed