%0 Journal Article
%T Respiratory management of the obese patient undergoing surgery
%A Luke E. Hodgson
%A Nicholas Hart
%A Patrick B. Murphy
%J SCIE-indexed Journal
%D 2015
%R 10.3978/j.issn.2072-1439.2015.03.08
%X Obesity, as defined by a body mass index (BMI) of ¡Ý30 kg/m2 (1), has almost doubled since 1980 to affect an estimated 671 million individuals worldwide (2). Furthermore, morbid obesity, defined as a BMI above 40 kg/m2, is rising (3). In the United States, China and United Kingdom (UK), obesity has a current prevalence of 32%, 4% and 25%, respectively in adult males and 34%, 5% and 25% respectively in adult females (2). The direct cost to the NHS in England for treating obesity, and its related morbidity, is estimated to be above ¡ê4 billion (4). The UK reported a 30-fold increase in the number of bariatric surgical procedures over ten years, a ten-fold increase in the number of hospital episodes primarily related to obesity over a decade (5) and it has been estimated that 25% of all UK patients admitted to intensive care units (ICU) are obese with 7% morbidly obese (6). It is therefore not surprising that the respiratory management of obese subjects, in particular in the pre- and peri-operative stage, represents a growing challenge to surgeons, pulmonologists, anesthetists and intensivists (7,8). This review will detail the physiological effects of obesity on the respiratory system and report the evidence-based strategies to manage the pre- and peri-operative phase
%U http://jtd.amegroups.com/article/view/4358/html