Weight Loss Surgery: The Latest News You Need To Know
Here’s the latest news you need to know about weight loss surgery:
1. The Death Rate Is Higher After Gastric Bypass Surgery
According to a University of Pittsburgh study, 6% of patients who have bariatric weight loss surgery die within 5 years.
Compared to the general population, these patients also have higher rates of death from heart disease and suicide.
More than 16,000 patients from Pennsylvania were studied. Each of these patients had weight loss surgery sometime between 1995 and 2004.
The researchers believe that the death rate could be reduced by better follow-up with the patients after bariatric surgery.
They put particular emphasis on controlling diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and smoking.
2. Weight Loss Surgery May Cause Nutritional Deficiencies
Two studies from Washington Hospital Center point to small intestinal bacterial overgrowth after weight loss surgery as a possible complication with serious effects.
Small intestinal bacterial overgrowth affects the absorption of vitamins, minerals, and micronutrients like calcium and zinc.
It can affect some gastric bypass patients even if they take nutritional supplements after surgery.
I’ve blogged before about the effects of vitamin deficiencies from weight loss surgery in Weight Loss, Hair Loss, Memory Loss.
3. Almost 20% Of Patients Don’t Receive Psychiatric Clearance For Bariatric Surgery
The psych evaluation isn’t designed to prevent patients from ever having the surgery.
It’s meant to identify and address problems that might interfere with the success of the surgery. Usually, that means a delay, not a permanent cancellation of weight loss surgery.
The most common reasons that patients aren’t cleared for surgery are frequent overeating to cope with emotional problems, eating disorders, and uncontrolled psychiatric problems.
4. Gastric Bypass Patients Who Lose Weight Before Surgery May Have Shorter Hospital Stays and Faster Weight Loss
Researchers at Geisinger Health System studied 884 gastric bypass patients.
The patients who lost over 5% of their excess weight before surgery were more likely to be released from the hospital in 4 days or less.
Those who lost over 10% of their excess weight before surgery were more than twice as likely to have lost 70% of their excess weight a year after surgery.
The researchers believe that losing weight before surgery reduces complications from diabetes, high blood pressure, potential blood clots, and more.
Of course, it’s up to you and your doctor to decide if the risks outweight the benefits of weight loss surgery.
Technorati Tags: lose weight, weight loss, weight loss surgery, gastric bypass, bariatric surgery, nutrition, nutritional deficiency
October 17th, 2007 at 3:06 pm
Sounds too dangerous for me.
October 17th, 2007 at 6:18 pm
When you reach the point of needing surgery, the weight alone is dangerous from a health standpoint. I believe the risks are worth it if you can’t lose extreme amounts of weight any other way and your life is already at risk.
October 17th, 2007 at 7:05 pm
The last part about losing weight before surgery… if an obese person can lose 10% of their excess weight before surgery, then why not keep doing what they’re doing to lose all their excess weight? There are too many risks to the surgery to go under the knife unless someone really has to do it to save their life.
October 17th, 2007 at 8:05 pm
I’m surprised the number of people who can’t pass the psychiatric exam isn’t higher if they’re counting people who overeat for emotional reasons. I wouldn’t be able to pass it on those grounds.
October 17th, 2007 at 9:52 pm
Now that these surgeries are being done on a large scale (no pun intended), the risks are starting to be known. But what isn’t known yet are what are the long term risks of having weight loss surgery. Will it turn out that this type of surgery saves lives or causes too many premature deaths? We may not know for many years and by that time, it may be too late for a lot of people.
October 17th, 2007 at 10:10 pm
why would you write something to scare people like that, Denise? It’s a hard enough decision to get gastric bypass and you talk about premature death. That’s cruel.
October 17th, 2007 at 11:33 pm
I didn’t mean it in a cruel way, Sue. The truth is no one knows what the long term effects will be. But we will one day. Is it cruel to let someone know about all the risks, scary or not, or is it cruel not to tell them? I think everyone who considers gastric bypass should understand what they’re getting into, even if it’s not what they want to hear.
October 18th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
Every surgery has risks but there are risks to staying obese, too. If a person can’t lose weight any other way, they may have no choice but to have surgery.