Bariatric surgery in obese adolescents: opportunities and challenges

Extreme obesity is defined by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as a body mass index (BMI) higher than 120% of the 95th percentile for age. Four to six percent of American youths fall into this subcategory and are at increased risk for developing comorbidities, including hypertension, dyslipidemia, nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, insulin resistance, sleep apnea, and bone and joint problems. Many studies have shown that nonsurgical treatment programs do not provide significant long-term improvements in BMI in adolescents with severe obesity. In adults, bariatric (weight loss) surgery has been shown to dramatically reduce BMI and to reverse or prevent many complications of obesity; thus, bariatric surgery is being used in an attempt to reverse clinically severe obesity in adolescents. This review highlights the indications for bariatric surgery in adolescents and outlines practice guidelines for adolescent surgical weight loss programs. The authors summarize available data on the effects of adolescent weight loss surgery on metabolic comorbidities and highlight the important acute and long-term complications that must be monitored by their general pediatricians. After reading this article, the general pediatrician should be able to identify adolescents who may be candidates for weight loss surgery and have the knowledge to assist in their postoperative medical management.