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David R. Flum, MD, MPH; Tipu V. Khan, BA, BS; E. Patchen Dellinger, MD

JAMA. 2007;298:1442-1444.

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

Bariatric surgery is the only health care intervention that facilitates significant and sustained weight loss.¹ Surgery results in remission of diabetes in 80% to 90% of obese patients with diabetes, and reduces the risk of death associated with obesity by nearly 30%.² More than 5% (at least 15 million)³ of the US adult population meets the criteria for obesity surgery (body mass index [BMI]  40 or BMI  35 with other conditions such as diabetes). In actuality, only a small fraction of this group is considered for and undergoes surgery (180 000 estimated bariatric surgery procedures in 2006).⁴ This mismatch between eligibility and receipt of surgical care is related to multiple factors, including the ways in which the health care system considers patients for surgery and delivers bariatric surgical care. Growing evidence also suggests that the cohort that . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Who Does and Does Not Have Bariatric Surgery?

Cause of Obesity

Triage

Social and Attitudinal Barriers

Author Affiliations: Department of Surgery, University of Washington, Seattle. Dr Flum is Contributing Editor, JAMA.

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