title: Long-Term Outcomes of Obesity Surgery and Implications for Health System Planning.
abstract: Weight loss surgery is currently the only treatment that offers significant and sustained weight loss for those with severe and complex obesity. Obesity levels have reached a sustained high, whereby several percent of a country's population would qualify for surgery based upon current national guidelines. Worldwide, the provision of surgery is highly variable and to treat all the affected population, it would require at least a 100-fold increase in the provision of services. This has important cost and commissioning implications for health-care planners. Reliable level 1 evidence of the long-term effects of obesity surgery is still lacking, and the long-term complication profiles and re-operation rates unclear, which could have significant impact on health-care systems in the future. The chronic disease management of obesity in a population must be integrated with education and prevention and the brief intervention of weight loss surgery and the management of its sequelae, to prevent significant future morbidity and mortality.
authors.affiliation: University Surgery Unit, MP816 South Academic Block, University Hospitals Southampton, Tremona Road, Southampton, SO16 6YD, UK.
authors.forename: James Charles
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Hopkins
authors.affiliation: Department of Bariatric and Upper Gastrointestinal Surgery, Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton, TA1 5DA, UK. Richard.Welbourn@tst.nhs.uk.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Welbourn
mesh_terms: D050110:Bariatric Surgery / Q000191:economics*; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D019468:Disease Management; D006285:Health Planning / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D009765:Obesity / Q000191:economics / Q000601:surgery*; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D015431:Weight Loss
keywords: Bariatric surgery implications for health planning; Long-term obesity outcomes