MASSDEVICE ON CALL — Obese teenagers who undergo bariatric weight-loss surgery may have a better chance later in life of staving off diabetes, hypertension, asthma and other health issues than if they remain obese into adulthood, according to a new study.
Researchers retrospectively analyzed rates of teenage obesity among nearly 1,500 morbidly obese adults seeking bariatric surgery, looking for relationships between teenage body weight and health conditions during adulthood.
A patient’s body weight at age 18 was a key predictor of diseases in adulthood, including renal disease, walking limitations and diabetes, TheHeart.org reported.
"When we looked at children in the Princeton School District cohort," researcher Dr. Thomas Inge said in an interview with the news site, "and cut the data for those with a BMI over 40, looking at them over 5 years, they continued to gain weight, and they gained at a rate of 1 BMI point a year thereafter."
"The critical point is that, after 18, you may be past the point of no return," Inge added. "The die is cast, so to speak, for developing diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and hypertension."
Healthcare costs growing faster
Per capita healthcare spending grew 4.6% in 2011 with spending on children’s care growing the fastest. By comparison, healthcare spending grew by 3.8% in 2010.
Read more
Are hospitals using electronic records to "game" federal funds?
Law enforcement officials and health regulators need to take greater care to ensure healthcare providers aren’t using electronic medical record technology to "game the system, possibly to obtain payments to which they are not entitled."
Read more
Knee replacement "effectively, costly, booming"
The explosion in total knee replacement rates may be a boon for patients seeking relief from arthritis in the knee, but the expensive procedure represents a significant drain on Medicare.
Read more
Masimo commits $1M to maternal mortality initiative
Masimo (NSDQ:MASI) announced a 2-year, $1 million initiative in conjunction with the Clinton Global Initiative to address maternal mortality and anemia around the world, focusing initially on 5 villages in Liberia and Uganda.
Read more
