Findings seen despite a downward trend in adults and the approval of second-generation antiobesity medications
By Lori Solomon HealthDay Reporter
WEDNESDAY, May 14, 2025 (HealthDay News) — Despite the approval of second-generation antiobesity medications, metabolic and bariatric surgery (MBS) use among U.S. adolescents increased from 2021 to 2023, according to a study published online March 23 in The Journal of Pediatrics.
Sarah E. Messiah, Ph.D., M.P.H., from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and colleagues assessed trends in adolescent MBS utilization before and after glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) medication approval. The analysis included data from 2021, 2022, and 2023 Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program participant use files.
The researchers found that adolescents had an increase in MBS completion from 2021 (1,376) to 2022 (1,490) to 2023 (1,581), while there was an increase among adults from 2021 (209,829) to 2022 (229,159) but a decrease from 2022 to 2023 (216,323). MBS completion in adolescents increased during the study period for Black and Hispanic patients, who had the highest prevalence of MBS completion versus all other racial and ethnic groups. Most adolescent completers had a preoperative body mass index (BMI) >40 kg/m2, with almost 40 percent having a BMI >50 kg/m2 across the three years. Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy remained the most common procedure type (>86 percent each year).
“The publication of the American Academy of Pediatrics Clinical Practice Guidelines in 2023, which endorsed MBS as a safe and effective treatment for severe obesity in adolescents, likely played a role in raising awareness and improving access,” the authors write. “In addition, systemic barriers, such as limited Medicaid coverage for antiobesity medications and widespread GLP-1 RA supply shortages, may have inadvertently steered patients and providers toward MBS as a more accessible and reliable treatment option.”
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