Table 3.

Priority Topics for Future Research Before and After Adolescent Bariatric Surgery

1) Develop evidence-based, opposed to insurance-driven, standards that define a successful preoperative period (patient/family factors, duration, frequency, content)

2) Establish adolescent-specific micronutrient guidelines. (Requires studies that a) evaluate absorption, regulation, and utilization to determine needs after MBS in this population and b) test innovative routes/schedules to deliver micronutrients given known poor adherence to daily oral pill regimens)

3) Assess optimal content and timing of interventions to prevent and treat postoperative LOC eating, taking into account adolescents’ maturing executive function

4) Design postoperative physical activity interventions and study their association with postsurgical outcomes, including weight loss maintenance

5) Identify predictors and timing of suboptimal weight loss and weight regain, and define the ideal timing and type of intervention(s) to address these

6) Evaluate the safety and efficacy of anti-obesity pharmacotherapy in adolescents in the postoperative setting to augment weight loss and/or prevent or treat weight regain

7) Develop and test interventions that aim to decrease attrition after MBS, including clinical care models that strengthen collaborations with primary care physicians and that effectively transition adolescents to an adult weight management medical home