Diagnostic Performance and Appropriate Cut-Offs of Different Anthropometric Indicators for Detecting Children with Overweight and Obesity.

In the clinical settings, different anthropometric indicators like neck circumference (NC), waist circumference (WC), midupper arm circumference (MUAC), waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), and arm-to-height ratio (AHtR) have been suggested for evaluating overweight and obesity in children. The comparative ability of these indicators in Pakistan is yet unknown. This study is aimed at examining the validity of different anthropometric indicators of overweight and obesity simultaneously and at determining their superlative cut-off values that would correctly detect overweight and obesity in children. For this purpose, the dataset of anthropometric measurements height, weight, WC, MUAC, and NC of 5,964 Pakistani children, aged 5-12 years collected in a cross-sectional multiethnic anthropometric survey (MEAS), was used. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was performed to assess the validity of different anthropometric indicators. The most sensitive and specific cut-off points, positive and negative predictive values of each indicator were also calculated. The results of the ROC curve indicated that all the studied indicators had a good performance but the indicators AHtR and WHtR had the highest value of the area under the curve (AUC) for the screening of children with overweight and obesity (AUC > 0.80). In the overall sample, AHtR, WHtR, MUAC, WC, and NC cut-off points indicative of overweight, in both boys and girls, were 0.14, 0.46, 18.41 cm, 62.86 cm, and 26.36 cm and 0.14, 0.47, 18.16 cm, 64.39 cm, and 26.54 cm, respectively; the corresponding values for obesity were 0.14, 0.47, 18.67 cm, 62.10 cm, and 26.36 cm and 0.14, 0.48, 20.19 cm, 64.39 cm, and 25.27 cm. We concluded that the sex-specific cut-off points for AHtR, WHtR, MUAC, WC, and NC can be used to diagnose overweight and obesity in Pakistani children.

Comparison of Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy (LSG) with Laparoscopic Gastric Bypass (LRYGB) in Bariatric Surgery.

Introduction The objective of our study was to compare the 30-day post-operative outcomes of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) and laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGB). Materials and Methods This randomized controlled study contained patients who underwent bariatric surgery from June 13, 2018 to October 12, 2019. A total of 116 patients having body mass index (BMI) > 35 kg/m2 (morbidly obese), age 18 to 65 years and with failure of conservative treatment were included. Group I patients underwent bariatric surgery using LRYGB technique while group II patients underwent bariatric surgery using the LSG technique. All patients were followed 30 days after surgery to determine early post-operative outcomes. Results The demographic profile, such as age and BMI, was similar between the groups. The mean operating time was 72 ±12 minutes in the LSG group and 156 ± 18 min in the LRYGB group (p-value 0.0001). Major complications were seen in five (8.62%) patients in LSG patients and in four (6.89%) patients in LRYGB group (p-value 0.12). Minor complications were seen in 21 (36.2%) patients in LSG group and in 19 (32.75%) patients in LRYGB group (p-value 0.15). The length of stay in the hospital in LSG group was 6.2±4.2 versus 9.4± 4.6 (p-value 0.0002). Conclusion Both LRYGB and LSG are effective and safe bariatric procedures with a similar incidence of major complications. However, LSG is associated with shorter operative time and hospital stay. Long-term follow-up studies are required to compare the effectiveness of these procedures.