title: Obesity, metabolic syndrome, and the surgical patient.
abstract: Contemporary life, with its sedentary lifestyles, fast foods, processed foodstuff, and desk-bound service employment, is beset by an epidemic of overweight and obese individuals. The World Health Organization reported that worldwide a billion adults are overweight and at least 30% of them are obese. Moreover, increasing numbers of children are obese. In the United States, 2 National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys of adults aged 20 to 74 years showed that the prevalence of obesity increased from 15% in the 1976 to 1980 survey to 34% in the 2003 to 2004 survey. Obesity and the metabolic syndrome are unfortunately becoming increasingly common perioperative issues. The ultimate aim of caring for such patients is to find ways to minimize the untoward effects of surgery in patients who are obese or have metabolic syndrome.
authors: Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care Medicine, Hebrew University Medical Center, Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Medicine, Kiryat Hadassah, POB 12000, Jerusalem 91120, Israel.
authors: Phillip D
authors: PD
authors: Levin
authors: Charles
authors: C
authors: Weissman