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Home » Children's Health, Lifestyle, Obesity, Surgery

Problems During Surgery Increased by Childhood Obesity

Submitted by admin on February 22, 2008 – 8:47 pm5 Comments
 

Obese children are far more likely than normal-weight children to have breathing related problems during surgery, finds a study from the University of Michigan Health System published in the March issue of the journal Anesthesiology. The problems include: difficult mask ventilation, airway obstruction, and major oxygen desaturation of the blood.
Obesity has long been linked with an ever-growing list of health problems such as asthma, hypertension, sleep apnea and Type II diabetes. However, Alan R. Tait, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Anesthesiology at the U-M Health System, says this may be the first study to link those conditions to an increase in problems during surgery involving anesthesia.

• Major airway obstructions occurred in 19 percent of obese children, compared with 11 percent of normal-weight children.
• Nearly 9 percent of obese children experienced difficult mask ventilation, compared with 2 percent of normal-weight children.
• 17 percent of obese children in the study experienced major oxygen desaturation (decreased oxygen in the blood), compared with 9 percent of normal-weight children.
• 28 percent of obese children had asthma, compared with 16 percent of normal-weight children.

Tait says, “Based on current trends, it is likely that anesthesiologists will continue to care for an increasing number of children who are overweight or obese, so it is vital that we are aware of the higher risk they face in the operating room.”

Source: University of Michigan Health System

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