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I praise David Arterburn's well-balanced editorial about bariatric
surgery for obese patients. He comprehensively describes some positives
and negatives of this very risky intervention. However, he has not
emphasised the financial cost associated with the bariatric surgery or
managing co-morbidities associated with obesity. He has not mentioned the
significance of prevention of modern age plague. Obesity is a treacherous
enemy that has affected all the countries on the earth.
It has a lot of
physical, mental and financial implications for an individual as well as
for the whole nation. It is multifactorial. Personal lifestyles and
mindsets as well as fast food contribute to its aetiology. As
anaesthetists I face many difficulties and dilemmas when I anaesthetise
obese patients for bariatric or non-bariatric surgery. As it has several
serious implications for the whole society, it is a collective
responsibility of all the stakeholders, including business community to
tackle this pandemic. Parents, children themselves, schools, health
departments, health policy makers, primary health care and hospitals, food
industries and media, all should take positive measures to prevent this
problem in future. As prevention is better than cure, let us nip the evil
in the bud.
Obesity - Nip the evil in the bud
I praise David Arterburn's well-balanced editorial about bariatric
surgery for obese patients. He comprehensively describes some positives
and negatives of this very risky intervention. However, he has not
emphasised the financial cost associated with the bariatric surgery or
managing co-morbidities associated with obesity. He has not mentioned the
significance of prevention of modern age plague. Obesity is a treacherous
enemy that has affected all the countries on the earth.
It has a lot of
physical, mental and financial implications for an individual as well as
for the whole nation. It is multifactorial. Personal lifestyles and
mindsets as well as fast food contribute to its aetiology. As
anaesthetists I face many difficulties and dilemmas when I anaesthetise
obese patients for bariatric or non-bariatric surgery. As it has several
serious implications for the whole society, it is a collective
responsibility of all the stakeholders, including business community to
tackle this pandemic. Parents, children themselves, schools, health
departments, health policy makers, primary health care and hospitals, food
industries and media, all should take positive measures to prevent this
problem in future. As prevention is better than cure, let us nip the evil
in the bud.
Arterburn D. Bariatric surgery. BMJ 2008;337:a755
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests