The Invisible and Insidious Enemy

Laparoscopic Single Anastomosis Sleeve Ileal Bypass with Follow-up of Weight Loss and Metabolic Impact

Background: Bariatric surgery has been an effective safe management for severe obesity. The newly developed single-anastomosis sleeve ileal (SASI) bypass has shown efficacy as a functional as well as mechanical restrictive bariatric procedure, with a neuroendocrine modulation effect. SASI bypass is still an investigational procedure, hence, more evidence is needed till it is declared as a standard bariatric procedure by the IFSO. Aim of the study: The current work aimed to describe our experience regarding the technical steps, the efficacy and the short-term outcome of SASI bypass procedure in patients with severe obesity. Patients and methods: Forty seven patients with severe obesity underwent SASI bypass procedure. They were followed till 1 year postoperatively. The weight loss, comorbidities and laboratory changes were assessed. Results: Patients evaluation at the 1-year postoperative follow up revealed a mean %TWL of 37.55 ± 6.17 and a mean %EBWL of 76.21 ± 9.8. The remission rates of T2DM, hyperlipidemia and hypertension were 85.7%, 94.7% and 89.66%, respectively, with statistically high significant differences between the preoperative and 1-year postoperative comorbidities rate. Stepwise regression analysis demonstrated that only the preoperative HbA1C remained in the model predicting the %TWL, and the preoperative BMI was the remaining factor in the model predicting the %EBWL in the study patients. Conclusion: The present study adds a new evidence to the promising outcome of the newly introduced SASI bypass procedure. After one year, the study patients showed excellent weight loss and comorbidities remission together with acceptable major complication rates.

Weight stigma in the COVID-19 pandemic: a scoping review

BACKGROUND

Weight stigma is a phenomenon associated with adverse behavioural and psychological consequences. Although experts suggest that its increase during the COVID-19 pandemic may be associated with worse health outcomes for people with obesity, a thorough analysis of the main findings and gaps is still needed when relating to this subject.

OBJECTIVE

We aim to answer three questions: (1) How does weight stigma manifest in the COVID-19 pandemic? (2) How can weight stigma affect people with overweight or obesity in times of COVID-19? (3) What are the perceptions and experiences of weight stigma during the pandemic in individuals who experience overweight or obesity?

METHODS

We conducted a scoping review of studies addressing weight stigma and the COVID-19 pandemic in electronic databases (Medline/PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, PsycInfo, BVS/Lilacs, Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and OpenGrey) published until 10th August 2021. All relevant studies were reviewed in full by two researchers. In addition, a narrative synthesis of the data was performed.

RESULTS

The results included 35 studies out of 8,090 records and identified 13 original research publications, 14 text and opinion papers, and 6 narrative reviews. The results revealed the presence of weight stigma in the media, healthcare settings, interpersonal relationships, and public campaigns during the COVID-19 pandemic. The evidence of increasing weight stigma in the COVID-19 outbreak is limited, though. Many weight discrimination consequences were described during this time, such as impairment in accessing healthcare, worst COVID-19 outcomes, and maladaptive eating. However, only maladaptive behaviours and decline in mental health outcomes were demonstrated empirically in all age groups. This effect occurred regardless of body mass index, but people with high body weight were more likely to experience weight stigma. For some people with obesity, weight stigma in the pandemic has made activities of daily routine difficult.

CONCLUSIONS

The results suggest that weight stigma in the COVID-19 pandemic occurs in several settings; moreover, although weight discrimination impacts mental health, whether before or during the pandemic, this influence between the pandemic and pre-pandemic scenario is still unclear. Therefore, more research is required in this field while the pandemic lasts, especially with people with obesity. Overall, people with overweight or obesity are more vulnerable to weight stigma than individuals without overweight. In addition, weight stigma refers to discrimination or prejudice based on a person's weight and relates to several consequences, for instance, poor healthcare treatment and mental health problems. In the COVID-19 outbreak, these weight stigma effects tend to become even more critical because they may be associated with unfavourable COVID-19 outcomes and eating disorder risks. Thus, it is crucial to investigate how weight stigma occurs during the pandemic and its impact on health, mainly for the most affected people. We investigated 35 studies published between 2019 and 2021 to map and explore how weight stigma was manifested and the related consequences for people with overweight or obesity in the COVID-19 pandemic. Only about a third of them were quantitative or qualitative, limiting the evidence of weight stigma in the COVID-19 context. The available evidence suggests that weight stigma manifests in several settings such as media, healthcare, public campaigns, and is more common in people with excess weight. However, weight discrimination experiences before or during the pandemic were associated with adverse psychological and behavioural consequences across all age groups, regardless of body weight. For some people with obesity, for instance, weight stigma made it difficult to accomplish their activities of daily routine. Nevertheless, it remains unclear whether weight stigma has increased in the pandemic, thus, more studies are required, especially about people with overweight or obesity.