News Release: Emory Healthcare , School of Medicine
Sep. 21, 2010
Teen Bariatric Surgery: Expert Comments on California Study
Mark Wulkan, MD, chief of the Division of Pediatric Surgery at Emory University School of Medicine and surgeon-in-chief at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, comments on a California study in this week’s journal Pediatrics about trends in adolescent bariatric surgery.
To view a video of Wulkan’s discussion about the study, protocol requirements for the surgery, and his observations about the obesity crisis, see Emory’s Medical Horizon blog at http://emorymedicalhorizon.com or click below.
The study, which was conducted by researchers at UCLA, looked at adolescent bariatric surgeries that took place in California between 2005 and 2007.
Wulkan says one of the most important messages related to this study is that it continues to shine a light on the crisis of adolescent obesity. “This is a terrible problem that afflicts the whole nation, across all socioeconomic strata and across all ethnic and race barriers.”
He emphasizes that childhood obesity is going to affect us into the future if we don’t do something about it. Obese children are at risk for serious health problems such as heart disease, liver disease, high blood pressure and joint problems.
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