Obese children at risk in surgery and for surgery

Using a database at the University of Michigan, researchers looked at 6,017 pediatric surgeries at the UM Hospital from 2000 to 2004. They found that nearly a third of the patients – 31.5 percent – were overweight or obese. More than half of those children qualified as obese, according to the study, which appears in Journal of the National Medical Association, VOL. 99, NO. 1, JANUARY 2007, p. 46-51 (this is a journal that promotes the interests of physicians and patients of African descent). You can read this article full text without registration.

"The prevalence of overweight children having surgery presents challenges to surgeons, anesthesiologists and their teams. Overweight adult patients are more likely to have conditions such as type II diabetes, hypertension, asthma and other breathing problems, and are more likely to develop infections in their wounds after surgery. The researchers on this study say those conditions also are becoming common among overweight and obese children.

The results also suggest that children who are overweight or obese have an increased likelihood of requiring certain types of surgery. The surgeries these children were having performed most frequently included the removal of tonsils and adenoids, as well as other surgeries designed to assist with breathing problems and sleep apnea; orthopedic surgeries to fix broken bones and other ailments; and procedures designed to mend digestive and gastrointestinal issues." Summary from the UMHS press release.