الفهرس 
IntroductionOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Obesity is a major and growing health problem that affects both developed and developing countries. In Egypt, there is a remarkable increase in obesity with more than one third of the whole population being obese.
Obesity is associated with adverse health, financial, and social consequences. It appears to be a major cause of hypertension and associated cardiac dysfunction “obesity cardiomyopathy”.
Bariatric surgical procedures cause weight loss by restricting the amount of food the stomach can hold, causing malabsorption of nutrients, or by a combination of both. Dramatic weight loss after bariatric surgery has been associated with greater benefits, such as reduced cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.
Cortisol and DHEA are steroid hormones with opposing effects, so, using cortisol to DHEA ratio has been found to predict health outcomes better than the level of either hormone alone.
The aim of this study was to assess serum cortisol/DHEA ratio in morbidly obese patients before and after bariatric surgery and its relation to cardiovascular performance.
This study included 40 morbidly obese patients (32 females and 8 males) with BMI >40, their age ranged from 18 to 54 years. They underwent a bariatric surgery at the surgery unit of Alexandria Main University Hospital. All the patients were followed up after 3 months and 1 year