Abstract
This may be the first issue you can read without wearing a mask in the past 2 years. As the COVID-19 pandemic slowly comes under control, we may finally see our bariatric surgical practices return to normal. With the overwhelming amount of information that has been published, we have discovered that patients with obesity-related comorbidities are at the greatest risk of having severe complications associated with COVID-19. Keeping up with all the new data on COVID-19 has been a challenge, but Bariatric Surgical Practice and Patient Care has received and reviewed many wonderful articles on obesity and COVID-19. We hope to increase your knowledge moving forward and build a foundation of the literature that will help us overcome this and the next pandemic.
Global health issues are one of the key efforts that we strive to investigate, which is evident in the numerous international submissions to our journal. As a global journal, many of our readers are greatly affected by the political upheaval we have seen over the past few weeks. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of thousands who had to evacuate their homeland to find refuge in another country.
This quarterly issue is filled with articles from around the world. I am sure our readers will find these peer-reviewed articles informational and useful in taking care of our bariatric patients. Our lead article entitled “Health, weight loss, and surgery beliefs: Why patients choose to undergo bariatric surgery and what influences their choice of surgery procedure” by Lynch et al. is a fascinating study that will help you understand the decision-making process that your patients face when choosing the right bariatric operation.
In closing, I hope to see many of you at the next American Society of Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Obesity Annual Meeting in Dallas, TX. I wish everyone safe travels to the meeting and hope to catch up with our authors and readers in person soon.
Sincerely,
Dean J. Mikami, MD, FACS
Editor-in-Chief, Bariatric Surgical Practice and Patient Care
Professor of Surgery
Associate Chair of Clinical Affairs
Division Chief, General Surgery
Associate Program Director
University of Hawaii John A. Burn School of Medicine
1356 Lusitana Street, 6th Floor
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813