A new study online in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine (a JAMA Network publication) finds that although weight-loss surgery for teenagers saw a big jump from 2000 to 2003, after that, the numbers of teens undergoing these procedures plateaued to about 1,000 per year in the United States.
The study, conducted by Children’s National surgeons and experts from several divisions, including lead author and Surgery Research Fellow Deirdre Kelleher, MD, as well as pediatric bariatric surgeon and investigator from the Sheikh Zayed Institute Evan Nadler, MD, and the Chief of the Division of Trauma and Burns at Children’s, Randall Burd, MD, sought to quantify the number of surgeries, the types of surgeries (open vs. minimally invasive), and the demographic of the patients electing to undergo these procedures.
The hard data findings of a plateau in the number of surgical procedures contradicts several high profile commentary pieces citing an increase in the use of bariatric surgery for teens over the last 10 years.
In truth, the data from the Children’s study, which used the AHRQ’s KID database to track inpatient bariatric procedures, finds that, since 2003, the numbers of teens undergoing these procedures has remained static, even while the rate of children with morbid obesity continues to rise.
Interestingly, in the same journal edition, a 3 year longitudinal study out of Sweden found that the more traditional weight-loss interventions involving diet, exercise, and other lifestyle interventions, while successful with teens who have moderate obesity, were not effective at all for adolescents with morbid/severe obesity—the population who has the greatest number of obesity-related comorbidities and would benefit from direct intervention.
“New studies are being published every day, including this one, that show traditional behavioral interventions are not effective for adolescent patients with morbid obesity,” said Dr. Nadler. "If we aren’t treating them successfully with diet and exercise, and they aren’t undergoing surgery, how are we going to help these patients and how will the obesity epidemic end?”
Read the media release at ChildrensNational.org.
Tuesday, December 18, 2012
Friday, December 14, 2012
Pediatric health care innovations presented by Children's at World Health Care Congress Middle East
During this week's World Health Care Congress Middle East, Children’s National held a special pediatric session featuring best practices in several key areas of children’s health that will help eliminate unnecessary complex procedures and reduce pain for children. Attendees included leaders in clinical care and policy development from the across the Middle East and Gulf region.The topics were selected based on requests from regional physicians, who were seeking more information about these subjects, including:
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- More precise and effective diagnosis of traumatic head injury, by Shireen Atabaki, MD, MPH, a pediatric emergency medicine specialist and director of Medical Student Education in the Division of Emergency Medicine at Children’s National.
- The reduction of preventable pain during and after surgery through the use of advanced minimally invasive surgical approaches tailored for children, by Craig A. Peters, MD, division chief of Surgical Innovation, Technology, and Translation at Children’s National, and lead of the Innovation and Education Initiative at the Sheikh Zayed Institute.
- The development of new integrated tools to diagnose, treat, and manage ongoing pain in children, by Julia Finkel, MD, associate division chief of Anesthesiology and Pain Medicine and lead investigator of the Pain Medicine Initiative at the Sheikh Zayed Institute.
Dr. Atabaki presents research to regional physicians about assessing traumatic brain injury in children. |
Dr. Finkel demonstrates the pain algometer to reporters in Abu Dhabi. |
Drs. Finkel and Peters also had a little time to spend with the Abu Dhabi media to talk about the latest work of the Sheikh Zayed Institute in pain medicine and minimally invasive surgery. As this work is largely made possible by the historic gift from the government of Abu Dhabi on behalf of the people, there was much excitement and curiosity from the local media about the institute's recent and upcoming developments.
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Thursday, December 13, 2012
Building quality health systems is a key focus of the World Health Care Congress Middle East

Sessions focused on improving health delivery and quality for patients. |
The data and response generated by Abu Dhabi's Weqaya system, which provides health care to Emirati citizens of Abu Dhabi, is a good example of successful application of data to improve health outcomes. In 2008, Weqaya enrollees underwent a series of routine health screenings. It was found that 23 percent of the Emirati population had diabetes. Even more suprising, 30 percent of that group were not aware they had diabetes. The data about diabetes assessment and treatment in the emirate has resulted in an ability to compare quality at the patient level and improve effectiveness across the entire system. Today, the Health Authority has launched several educational programs and made policy changes to help providers do a better job of diagnosing and treating diabetes before it escalates into dangerous complications.
Doctors Peters and Finkel pose in the Children's National/Sheikh Zayed Institute booth at the World Health Care Congress Middle East exhibition. |
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Monday, December 3, 2012
Crowdfunding website with child health focus launched by Sheikh Zayed Institute

“We know that government and philanthropic research funding is more competitive than ever before,” said Floortje Blindenbach-Driessen, PhD, head of the crowdfunding initiative. “We also know through our institute’s focus on pediatric innovation that there are many, many good project ideas out there that are either too small to qualify for that funding or need additional assistance to begin.”
Read the full media release, or visit www.ChildrensNational.org/Crowdfunding to learn more about the project.
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