Surgery for obesity and metabolic disorders

Obesity is a complex condition with serious social and psychological dimensions that affects virtually all age and socioeconomic groups and threatens to overwhelm both developed and developing countries. In 1995 there were an estimated 200 million obese adults worldwide and another 18 million children under the age of 5 that were classified as overweight. As of 2000 the number of obese adults has increased to over 300 million. Contrary to common expectations, the obesity epidemic is not restricted to industrialized societies. It is estimated that in developing countries over 115 million people suffer from obesity-related problems. As commonly known, obesity surgery is the only effective strategy to treat severely obese patients. Obesity treatment should be individually tailored, and all crucial factors, such as sex, the degree of obesity, individual health risks as well as psychobehavioral and metabolic characteristics, should be taken into account. In this supplemental issue of Obesity Facts you will find an overview of articles based on the sessions of the «6th Frankfurt Meeting for Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders» which many experts in the field participated in. This publication therefore offers a comprehensive overview of the latest advances, breakthroughs and novelties in the minimally invasive treatment of this fatal modern-age epidemic.