Postgraduate medicine
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Obesity is a pandemic with many complications that increase the societal disease burden and cost of health care, and decrease longevity and quality of life. Currently, 1 in 3 adults in the United States is obese. ⋯ As insights are gained into the pathophysiology of a gut-brain neurochemical feedback axis governing satiety and feeding behavior, targets for new pharmacotherapies are being developed. In particular, gut hormone analogs are an attractive antiobesity therapy because they appear to lack the adverse effects historically associated with central nervous system-acting agents.
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Postgraduate medicine · Jan 2011
ReviewBariatric surgery in patients with type 2 diabetes: a viable option.
The prevalence of obesity is increasing and is co-epidemic with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Treatment of obesity has been less than adequate, particularly when managing morbidly obese patients. Research on T2DM has shown a number of new pharmacologic therapies along with the rapid employment of bariatric surgery. ⋯ Other data gaps still exist regarding diabetes surgery, which must be filled using data from well-designed, well-implemented randomized controlled clinical trials. In the future, it will be prudent to compare surgical interventions with other rigorous medical interventions in more robust studies. A combination of surgical, medical, and behavioral interventions should be considered for treating obese patients with T2DM.