What is morbid obesity?
Morbid obesity is a much more severe form of obesity. A person who is 100 or more pounds overweight or twice the ideal body weight and has a BMI of 40 or a BMI of 35 with multiple comorbidities is morbidly obese. Morbid obesity affects an estimated 9 million Americans. Morbid obesity is a common condition that can have profoundly negative health and social consequences. It is considered a serious disease and has been linked to shortened life expectancy. Most morbidly obese patients are candidates for the various forms of weight loss surgery (restrictive – lap band, Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass surgery (stomach stapling), Gastroplasty, or Malobsorbtive – biliopancreatic diversion, Duodenal Switch). According to C. Everett Koop, M.D. former Surgeon General of the United States, obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death in America! And more and more insurance companies are realizing that weight loss surgery is not a cosmetically motivated treatment but instead a life saving wei
Morbid obesity is a much more severe form of obesity. A person who is 100 or more pounds overweight or twice the ideal body weight and has a BMI of 40 or a BMI of 35 with multiple co-morbidities is morbidly obese. Morbid obesity affects an estimated 9 million Americans. Morbid obesity is a common condition that can have profoundly negative health and social consequences. It is considered a serious disease and has been linked to shortened life expectancy. Most morbidly obese patients are candidates for the various forms of weight loss surgery (restrictive – lap band, Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass surgery (stomach stapling), Gastroplasty, or Malobsorbtive – biliopancreatic diversion, Duodenal Switch). According to C. Everett Koop, M.D. former Surgeon General of the United States, obesity is the second leading cause of preventable death in America! And more and more insurance companies are realizing that weight loss surgery is not a cosmetically motivated treatment but instead a life saving we
Morbid obesity, or clinically severe obesity, is defined as a condition in which the level of obesity greatly interferes with normal activities or bodily functions. Medically speaking, this correlates to having a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 40 kg/m 2 or with being 100 pounds or more overweight. Unfortunately, once patients reach the level of morbid obesity, non surgical methods such as medications, diet modification and exercise have poor long-term success rates.
