Bariatrics is the branch of

medicine Medicine is the science and practice of caring for a patient, managing the diagnosis, prognosis, prevention, treatment, palliation of their injury or disease, and promoting their health. Medicine encompasses a variety of health care pract ...

that deals with the causes, prevention, and treatment of

obesity Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's we ...

Terminology

The term ''bariatrics'' was coined around 1965,Dictionary.com, based on Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Random House (2006)

Retrieved 15 April 2006 from the Greek language, Greek root ''bar''- ("weight" as in

barometer A barometer is a scientific instrument that is used to measure air pressure in a certain environment. Pressure tendency can forecast short term changes in the weather. Many measurements of air pressure are used within surface weather analysis ...

suffix In linguistics, a suffix is an affix which is placed after the stem of a word. Common examples are case endings, which indicate the grammatical case of nouns, adjectives, and verb endings, which form the conjugation of verbs. Suffixes can carry ...

-''iatr'' ("treatment," as in

pediatrics Pediatrics ( also spelled ''paediatrics'' or ''pædiatrics'') is the branch of medicine that involves the medical care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults. In the United Kingdom, paediatrics covers many of their youth until th ...

), and

-''ic'' ("pertaining to"). The field encompasses

dieting Dieting is the practice of eating food in a regulated way to decrease, maintain, or increase body weight, or to prevent and treat diseases such as diabetes and obesity. As weight loss depends on calorie intake, different kinds of calorie-redu ...

exercise Exercise is a body activity that enhances or maintains physical fitness and overall health and wellness. It is performed for various reasons, to aid growth and improve strength, develop muscles and the cardiovascular system, hone athletic ...

and

behavioral therapy Behaviour therapy or behavioural psychotherapy is a broad term referring to clinical psychotherapy that uses techniques derived from behaviourism and/or cognitive psychology. It looks at specific, learned behaviours and how the environment, or oth ...

approaches to

weight loss Weight loss, in the context of medicine, health, or physical fitness, refers to a reduction of the total body mass, by a mean loss of fluid, body fat (adipose tissue), or lean mass (namely bone mineral deposits, muscle, tendon, and other conn ...

, as well as

pharmacotherapy Pharmacotherapy is therapy using pharmaceutical drugs, as distinguished from therapy using surgery (surgical therapy), radiation (radiation therapy), movement ( physical therapy), or other modes. Among physicians, sometimes the term ''medical the ...

and

surgery Surgery ''cheirourgikē'' (composed of χείρ, "hand", and ἔργον, "work"), via la, chirurgiae, meaning "hand work". is a medical specialty that uses operative manual and instrumental techniques on a person to investigate or treat a pat ...

. The term is also used in the medical field as somewhat of a euphemism to refer to people of larger sizes without regard to their participation in any treatment specific to weight loss, such as medical supply catalogs featuring larger hospital gowns and hospital beds referred to as "bariatric".

Bariatric patients

Being

overweight Being overweight or fat is having more body fat than is optimally healthy. Being overweight is especially common where food supplies are plentiful and lifestyles are sedentary. , excess weight reached epidemic proportions globally, with mo ...

obese Obesity is a medical condition, sometimes considered a disease, in which excess body fat has accumulated to such an extent that it may negatively affect health. People are classified as obese when their body mass index (BMI)—a person's we ...

are both rising medical problems. There are many detrimental health effects of obesity:WHO factsheet on obesity
Individuals with a BMI (Body Mass Index) exceeding a healthy range have a much greater risk of medical issues. These include

heart disease Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a class of diseases that involve the heart or blood vessels. CVD includes coronary artery diseases (CAD) such as angina and myocardial infarction (commonly known as a heart attack). Other CVDs include stroke, hea ...

diabetes mellitus Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a group of metabolic disorders characterized by a high blood sugar level ( hyperglycemia) over a prolonged period of time. Symptoms often include frequent urination, increased thirst and increased ap ...

, many types of

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving abnormal cell growth with the potential to invade or spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Possible signs and symptoms include a lump, abnormal b ...

asthma Asthma is a long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wheezing, cou ...

obstructive sleep apnea Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is the most common sleep-related breathing disorder and is characterized by recurrent episodes of complete or partial obstruction of the upper airway leading to reduced or absent breathing during sleep. These episod ...

, and chronic

musculoskeletal The human musculoskeletal system (also known as the human locomotor system, and previously the activity system) is an organ system that gives humans the ability to move using their muscular and skeletal systems. The musculoskeletal system prov ...

problems. There is also a focus on the correlation between obesity and

mortality Mortality is the state of being mortal, or susceptible to death; the opposite of immortality. Mortality may also refer to: * Fish mortality, a parameter used in fisheries population dynamics to account for the loss of fish in a fish stock throug ...

. Overweight and obese people, including children, may find it difficult to lose weight on their own. It is common for dieters to have tried fad diets only to find that they gain weight, or return to their original weight, after ceasing the diet. Some improvement in patient psychological health is noted after bariatric surgery. 51% of bariatric surgery candidates report a history of

mental illness A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness or psychiatric disorder, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. Such features may be persistent, relapsing and remitti ...

, specifically depression, as well as being prescribed at least one psychotropic medication at the time of their surgery candidacy.Ward H.B., Yudkoff B.L., Fromson J.A. Lurasidone malabsorption following bariatric surgery: A case report. ''J. Psychiatr. Pract..'' 2019;25(4):313-317. doi:10.1097/PRA.0000000000000402

Methods of treatment

Although

diet Diet may refer to: Food * Diet (nutrition), the sum of the food consumed by an organism or group * Dieting, the deliberate selection of food to control body weight or nutrient intake ** Diet food, foods that aid in creating a diet for weight loss ...

behavior therapy Behaviour therapy or behavioural psychotherapy is a broad term referring to clinical psychotherapy that uses techniques derived from behaviourism and/or cognitive psychology. It looks at specific, learned behaviours and how the environment, or oth ...

and

anti-obesity drug Anti-obesity medication or weight loss medications are pharmacological agents that reduce or control weight. These medications alter one of the fundamental processes of the human body, weight regulation, by altering either appetite, or absorpt ...

s are first-line treatment,Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults, The Evidence Report. NIH Publication NO. 98-4083, September 1998. NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute in cooperation with The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney diseases.
medical therapy for severe obesity has limited short-term success and very poor long-term success.

Weight loss surgery Bariatric surgery (or weight loss surgery) includes a variety of procedures performed on people who are obese. Long term weight loss through the standard of care procedures ( Roux en-Y bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, and biliopancreatic diversion ...

generally results in greater weight loss than conventional treatment, and leads to improvements in

quality of life Quality of life (QOL) is defined by the World Health Organization as "an individual's perception of their position in life in the context of the culture and value systems in which they live and in relation to their goals, expectations, standards ...

and obesity related diseases such as

hypertension Hypertension (HTN or HT), also known as high blood pressure (HBP), is a long-term medical condition in which the blood pressure in the arteries is persistently elevated. High blood pressure usually does not cause symptoms. Long-term high bl ...

and

. A meta-analysis of 174772 participants published in ''

The Lancet ''The Lancet'' is a weekly peer-reviewed general medical journal and one of the oldest of its kind. It is also the world's highest-impact academic journal. It was founded in England in 1823. The journal publishes original research articles, ...

'' in 2021 found that bariatric surgery was associated with 59% and 30% reduction in all-cause mortality among obese adults with or without

type 2 diabetes Type 2 diabetes, formerly known as adult-onset diabetes, is a form of diabetes mellitus that is characterized by high blood sugar, insulin resistance, and relative lack of insulin. Common symptoms include increased thirst, frequent urination, ...

respectively. This meta-analysis also found that median life-expectancy was 9.3 years longer for obese adults with diabetes who received bariatric surgery as compared to routine (non-surgical) care, whereas the life expectancy gain was 5.1 years longer for obese adults without diabetes. The combination of approaches used may be tailored to each patient. Bariatric treatments in youth must be considered with great caution and with other conditions that may not have to be considered in adults. Techniques used in bariatrics include

bioelectrical impedance analysis Bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA) is a method for estimating body composition, in particular body fat and muscle mass, where a weak electric current flows through the body and the voltage is measured in order to calculate Electrical impedance, ...

, a method to measure

body fat percentage The body fat percentage (BFP) of a human or other living being is the total mass of fat divided by total body mass, multiplied by 100; body fat includes essential body fat and storage body fat. Essential body fat is necessary to maintain life and ...

References

External links

{{Commons category
VIDEO: How Bariatrics Has Changed Our Understanding of Type II Diabetes
Daniel McKenna speaks at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, 2008.
MedLinePlus Portal on Weight Loss Surgery
Obesity he:ניתוח בריאטרי

Terminology

Bariatric patients

Methods of treatment

See also

Related conditions

Physiology

References

External links