Endocrine Abstracts

Background

Obesity is an increasing public health problem all around the world. It plays role in the pathogenesis of many diseases, especially diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, cardiovascular diseases and cancer. The prevalence of weight-loss surgery is increasing as a result of developments of surgical techniques. In parallel with these developments, more patients admit for weight-loss surgery. Pharmacotherapy is one of the most important component of interventions before surgery. In this paper we aimed to evaluate patients’ awareness towards receiving pharmacotherapy before admission to surgery.

Method

Patients who had been referred from general surgery department to our clinic for endocrinological evaluation were included to our study. 47 patients were evaluated.

Results

21%(n: 10) of the patients were male and 79%(n: 37) were female. 17%of the patients (n: 8) had type-2 diabetes. Mean body mass index (BMI) was found to 44.1 kg/m². 80%(n: 38) of the patients had not received any pharmacological treatment before and directly preferred surgery as an anti-obesity treatment modality. None of these patients were aware of the importance and requirement of pharmacotherapy before surgery. Liraglutide was started in 4%(n: 2) patients, exenatide 17%(n: 8) diabetic patients and orlistat in 19%(n: 9) patients, respectively. Lifestyle changes were recommended to 60%(n: 28) patients and evaluation for pharmacotherapy planned for the next visit.

Discussion

Pharmacotherapy and behavioral modification are major interventions before weight loss surgery. Incompatibility with pharmocotherapy and behavioral modification is one of the contraindications for bariatric surgery. Besides, pharmacotherapy increases the success of weight loss surgery. To conclude, increasing awareness among patients to apply for pharmocotherapy and behavioral modification before surgical procedures may help us to achieve meaningful weight loss in long term.