Should bariatric surgery be employed to treat kids with type 2 diabetes? Elizabeth Tracey reports

Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:05 — 1.5MB)

Subscribe: RSS

Bariatric surgery is used mostly to treat obesity in adults, and has the added benefit of reversing type 2 diabetes in many of them. In view of the increasing number of children who are developing type 2 diabetes along with severe consequences, should this surgery be employed in this group also? Sheela Magge, a pediatric endocrinology expert at Johns Hopkins, says maybe.

Magge: There’s a lot of research going on right now about bariatric surgery during childhood, or sometimes they’re calling it metabolic surgery. There are certain criteria, there are certain concerns about development. Kids are growing, going through puberty. You know we see kids, 10 year olds diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Now I don’t know that we want to do bariatric surgery on a 10 year old. But that being said, metabolic surgery is a real option and the effects seems quite impressive.  :27

Magge is one author of a recent study showing a 77% rise in type 2 diabetes in children during the pandemic. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.