Bariatrics is the branch of medicine that deals with the causes, prevention, and treatment of obesity. The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 4th edition, Houghton (2000): "Bariatrics" Retrieved 14 Feb. 2006 The term bariatrics was created around 1965, Dictionary.com, based on Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Random House (2006): http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/bariatrics Retrieved 15 Apr. 2006 from the Greek root baro ("weight," as in barometer), suffix -iatr ("treatment," as in pediatrics), and suffix -ic ("pertaining to"). Besides the pharmacotherapy of obesity, it is concerned with obesity surgery.
Overweight and obesity are rising medical problems of pandemic proportions. Reynolds K, He J. Epidemiology of the metabolic syndrome.Am J Med Sci 2005;330:273-9. PMID 16355011 Hedley AA, Ogden CL, Johnson CL, et al. 2004. Prevalence of overweight and obesity among US children, adolescents, and adults, 1999–2002. JAMA ; 291: 2847–50. PMID 15199035 There are many detrimental health effects of obesity: WHO factsheet on obesity heart disease, diabetes, many types of cancer, asthma, obstructive sleep apnea, chronic musculoskeletal problems, etc. There is also a clear effect of obesity on mortality, though this is not so clear for those who are overweight. Flegal KM, Graubard BI, Williamson DF, Gail MH. Excess deaths associated with underweight, overweight, and obesity. JAMA 2005; 293: 1861-7.
