Teens and Obesity Surgery (AP)

[ActionPif]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/diet.fitness/03/05/diet.teen.surgery.ap/index.html

Some highlights:

While the procedure is still far more common in adults, it appears to be slightly less risky in teens, according to an analysis of data on 12- to 19-year-olds who had obesity surgery from 1996 through 2003.

During that time, an estimated 2,744 youngsters nationwide had the operations. The pace tripled between 2000 and 2003, reaching 771 surgeries that year, the study found.

About 5 percent of children and adults had major complications, mostly respiratory problems. Children spent an average of about 3.2 days in the hospital in 2003, versus 3.5 days for adults. Total hospital charges also were lower for pediatric patients, $30,804 per patient versus $36,056 for adults.

The youngest patients were age 12, but most were older teens. Eric Decker was one of them. In 2003, at age 17, he had gastric bypass surgery, the most common obesity operation in teens and adults.

Personally, I found shocking that children of twelve years old were recieving this surgery. These are kids who haven't even begun fully developing in a hormonal sense, already having their anatomies tinkered with, and it's just a little frightening.

What do you guys think?

 

[imfree]

 

[XGuy]

 

[SamanthaNY]

 

[Jon Blaze]