Choice of Bariatric Surgery

Over the past 10 years, the population of the United States has gotten progressively more obese. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that more than one-third of US adults (35.7%) and approximately 17% (or 12.5 million) of children and adolescents aged 2 to 19 years are obese.¹ As the population becomes more obese, the prevalence of certain obesity-related illness increases. This includes, but is not limited to, diabetes mellitus, obstructive sleep apnea, and hypertension. These comorbid illnesses pose a significant problem to the health care field. So much that the American Medical Association recently declared obesity as a disease.² With this new declaration comes an increased push to treat morbid obesity and its related complications.