Journal Article
Meta-analysis: Surgical Treatment of Obesity
Jan 1, 2005
undefined
Format | File Size | Notes |
---|---|---|
PDF file | 0.1 MB | Use Adobe Acrobat Reader version 10 or higher for the best experience. |
The prevalence of obesity in the United States and elsewhere is rising precipitously: A 1999–2002 survey estimated that 30 percent of the U.S. population met the criteria for obesity, a body mass index (BMI—a ratio of weight to height) of 30 or higher (those with a BMI of 40 or over are considered severely obese).[1] The health consequences of obesity are considerable, yet weight loss of just 5 to 10 percent may lower the risks. The increasing prevalence of obesity has intensified interest in surgical treatments to achieve weight loss, also known as bariatric surgery. These procedures can reduce stomach capacity or adjust intestinal length to restrict food consumption or reduce the calories and nutrients the body can absorb. With a reported rise in the number of procedures—and complications—researchers at the Southern California Evidence-Based Practice Center, which is funded by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and housed at RAND, recently examined the effectiveness and risks of this surgery by analyzing nearly 150 published studies, focusing on the most commonly performed procedures.
This report is part of the RAND Corporation research brief series. RAND research briefs present policy-oriented summaries of individual published, peer-reviewed documents or of a body of published work.
Permission is given to duplicate this electronic document for personal use only, as long as it is unaltered and complete. Copies may not be duplicated for commercial purposes. Unauthorized posting of RAND PDFs to a non-RAND Web site is prohibited. RAND PDFs are protected under copyright law. For information on reprint and linking permissions, please visit the RAND Permissions page.
The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis. RAND's publications do not necessarily reflect the opinions of its research clients and sponsors.