Increase in weight-loss operations for children

More parents are requesting weight-loss surgery for their children, particularly adolescents.

DUBAI // Children as young as 12 are being booked in for weight-loss surgery by their parents, doctors say.

And while statistics are difficult to come by because of patient confidentiality and privacy laws, doctors say they are seeing increasing numbers of young people being brought in for such operations.

Dr Gabi Wazz, specialist obesity surgeon at Dr Sulaiman Al Habib Medical Centre, said he operated on a 12-year-old girl who weighed 140 kilograms.

But Dr Wazz said the girl had six months of counselling before the operation, and that adolescents should only turn to surgery in extreme cases.

“We did not operate on her lightly,” he told an obesity discussion panel at Dubai Healthcare City last week.

Dr Girish Juneja, a bariatric surgeon at International Modern Hospital in Dubai, said more parents were requesting weight-loss surgery for their children.

“I’m operating on a lot of adolescents nowadays,” Dr Juneja said.

But he said he did not operate on children younger than 15, and that most patients were at least 16.

Childhood obesity can lead to hypertension, type 2 diabetes, orthopaedic problems, sleep apnoea and psychosocial problems, said Dr Alaeddin Saghir, consultant endocrinologist and diabetologist at Abuhammour Medical Centre.

Children and adolescents often experience depression, low self-esteem, bullying and learning problems, Dr Saghir said.

It can also lead to an abnormal amount of cholesterol and fat in the blood, and heart and liver disease.

Weight-loss or bariatric surgery involves removing part of the stomach or inserting a gastric band to reduce its size.

There is a 0.5 per cent risk of mortality, so doctors must consider the health risks of the surgery against those from obesity.

Dr Wazz said psychosocial problems were a valid reason for weight-loss surgery in extreme cases of obesity.

Dr Fuad Ahmed, a bariatric surgeon at Burjeel Hospital in Abu Dhabi, agreed.

“One child told me that when she goes into the classroom they are afraid of her because she is so big,” Dr Ahmed said. “They are rejected by society.

“They are looked at differently. They don’t like to socialise or go out for activities. Some are confined to their room.”

As with adults, bariatric surgery can radically change patients’ lives, he said.

Dr Ahmed said the number of people overall seeking surgery for weight loss has increased, but he was cautious about describing a trend without specific data, saying most of his patients were in the 20 to 40 age group.

Body mass index (BMI) is measured differently in adults and children. Adults with a BMI above 30 are considered obese, while children and adolescents are considered obese if their BMI is above the 95 percentile for their age and gender.

People who are obese are often blamed by others for their problem, even though they may be seeking surgery because diet and exercise have not worked, or they suffer from metabolic problems, Dr Ahmed said.

“Their lives change completely after surgery and not only in their appearance,” he said. “It’s not a cosmetic surgery, it’s a treatment.”

A study last year of 1,400 Emirati pupils in Grades 1 to 12 in Abu Dhabi found 34 per cent of them were overweight.

The highest percentage was among those aged between 11 and 15, at 40.1 per cent, followed by 39 per cent of the 16 to 19 age group, then 22.8 per cent of those aged between 6 and 10.