Desire for post bariatric body contouring in South East Scotland

Abstract

The past 20 years has seen a doubling in the worldwide prevalence of morbid obesity (usually defined as a body mass index BMI, >40 kg/m(2)). Scotland has one of the worst obesity records amongst developed countries. In 2010, 65.1% of all adults aged 16 and over were overweight or obese. Morbid obesity rates (BMI 40 kg/m(2) or more) increased from 1.2% in 1995 to 2.7% in 2003, and fluctuated between 2.2% and 2.7% between 2008 and 2010 (Figure 1). Morbid obesity is associated with twice the mortality compared with the general population. The National Audit Office (NAO) estimated that in 1998 over 30,000 deaths a year in England were attributable to obesity, approximately 6% of all deaths in that year. Obesity is associated and with other conditions such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, osteoarthritis and cancer, as well as increased rates of psychiatric illness.