Recognizing that severe obesity is a serious and worsening public health crisis in children and adolescents, the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) is calling for greater access to metabolic and bariatric surgery. In a new policy statement, “Pediatric Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery: Evidence, Barriers, and Best Practices,” published Sunday, Oct. 27, the AAP describes severe obesity among children and adolescents as an “epidemic within an epidemic,” one that portends a dramatically shortened life expectancy for today’s generation compared to their parents.
In children and adolescents with less severe forms of obesity, lifestyle modifications have shown a moderate success. But these strategies have not worked as well for young people with severe obesity, which is defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of at least 120% of the 95th percentile for age and sex, which roughly equals…
