title: Bariatric surgery is an effective treatment for morbid obesity.
abstract: The global obesity epidemic is also affecting the Netherlands, paralleled by a proportional increase in the number of morbidly obese persons. Bariatric surgery has been included as a treatment for morbid obesity in the Dutch Guideline for Obesity (2008). Nonetheless, bariatric surgery is applied in only a limited number of morbidly obese subjects in the Netherlands. Based on the most recent literature and Dutch statistics, this review provides a summary of current knowledge on the impact of obesity on health and health care and highlights the effective role of bariatric surgery in reducing this threat to public health.
authors.affiliation: Department of Endocrinology & Metabolism, Academic Medical Center, Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Schigt
authors.forename: V E A
authors.initials: VE
authors.lastname: Gerdes
authors.forename: H A
authors.initials: HA
authors.lastname: Cense
authors.forename: F J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Berends
authors.forename: F M H
authors.initials: FM
authors.lastname: van Dielen
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Janssen
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: van der Laar
authors.forename: B A
authors.initials: BA
authors.lastname: van Wagensveld
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Romijn
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Serlie
mesh_terms: D050110:Bariatric Surgery / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D009767:Obesity, Morbid / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome