Obesity Surgery - After 30 Years — New Guidelines For Weight-Loss Surgery
The ASMBS/IFSO Guidelines on Indications for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery – 2022 (this opens in a new tab), published online in the journals, Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases (SOARD) and Obesity Surgery, are meant to replace a consensus statement developed by National Institutes of Health (NIH) more than 30 years ago that set standards most insurers and doctors still rely upon to make decisions about who should get weight-loss surgery, what kind they should get, and when they should get it.
“The ASMBS/IFSO Guidelines provide an important reset when it comes to the treatment of obesity,” said Scott Shikora, MD, President, IFSO. “Insurers, policy makers, healthcare providers, and patients should pay close attention and work to remove the barriers and outdated thinking that prevent access to one of the safest, effective and most studied operations in medicine.”
The ASMBS/IFSO Guidelines now recommend metabolic and bariatric surgery for individuals with a BMI of 35 or more “regardless of presence, absence, or severity of obesity-related conditions” and that it be considered for people with a BMI 30-34.9 and metabolic disease and in “appropriately selected children and adolescents.”
The American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS (this opens in a new tab)) is the largest group of bariatric surgeons and integrated health professionals in the United States and the International Federation for the Surgery of Obesity and Metabolic Disorders (IFSO (this opens in a new tab)) represents 72 national associations and societies throughout the world.