The Changing Landscape of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery: Aligning Access With the Clinical Obesity Framework.

Authors

Francesco Saverio Papadia, Ricardo Vitor Cohen, Paolo Bernante, Mirto Foletto

Published in

Obesity reviews : an official journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity. Pages e70240. Oct 02, 2026. Epub Oct 02, 2026.

Abstract

Metabolic and bariatric surgery (MBS) is the most effective treatment for severe obesity, yet it remains profoundly underutilized. Patients seeking MBS face pretreatment requirements, including mandatory psychological evaluation, documented failed diet attempts, and months of lifestyle interventions that are substantially more extensive than those required for most common gastrointestinal procedures. These requirements were initially developed with patient safety in mind, but evidence has accumulated that many lack outcome-specific support and have become barriers to care, particularly as third-party payers have increasingly used them to restrict access. Meanwhile, potent obesity management medications (OMMs) are prescribed with relatively limited oversight, often to individuals with preclinical disease, at costs that raise questions about economic sustainability. The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology Commission's distinction between preclinical obesity (excess adiposity with preserved organ function) and clinical obesity (a systemic illness characterized by objective organ dysfunction or substantial limitations of daily activities) provides a framework for evaluating current treatment access patterns. A critical implication of this framework, which warrants further exploration, is that it may narrow the population for whom medical treatment is considered necessary: for individuals with preclinical obesity, excess adiposity represents a risk state requiring monitoring and evidence-based counseling, not generally an ongoing illness requiring pharmacotherapy or surgery. This paper examines whether the current pattern, relatively low barriers to expensive, chronic pharmacotherapy for preclinical or early-stage disease; relatively high barriers to durable, cost-effective surgery for established clinical obesity, represents a departure from severity-matched care that warrants systematic reconsideration.

PMID:
42827283
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 03 Oct 2026.

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