An Investigation Of Life After Gastric Bypass Surgery
With obesity continuing to increase in many Western countries we are becoming more and more sensitive to the health risks of being substantially overweight and of the increased death risk resulting from obesity.
But to what extent can these risks be lowered by undergoing weight loss surgery? A study recently examined the records of a large number of patients who had undergone bariatric surgery in the 10 years from 1995 to 2004 and found that about one percent of patients died within twelve months of their operation and roughly 6 percent died within 5 years.
When the numbers had been adjusted to take account of sex and age and matched against statistics for the general population they were found to be relatively high.
So just what does this say about the ability of weight loss surgery to lessen the general risk to our health? In order to find the answer this question then we must look behind the headline numbers and look at just why these deaths occurred and where the real variation lies between obesity patients and the population at large.
If you consider the breakdown of the numbers two particular things stand out.
The first is the figure for deaths resulting from heart disease which is the major cause of death in the weight loss patients and is considerably above that seen in the general population.
The second is the figure for deaths that resulted from suicide and drug overdoses that, although not formally classified as suicide, must nevertheless raise the question of whether these overdoses were truly accidental.
Within the population at large you could expect to see roughly 2 deaths from suicide in a group of the same size as the study group and yet the group of patients showed a total of 30 deaths from suicide and drug overdoses.
If we look at these results and consider them alongside our general knowledge about patients having weight loss surgery then we may possibly explain this variation to a certain degree.
Although gastric bypass surgery is generally extremely successful it is often not carried out until patients are suffering from other medical problems and, although surgery may cure several of these problems and lessen the risk from others, a lot of patients are still at some risk after surgery.
For instance, in a lot of cases patients remain troubled by things like hypertension and diabetes and it is perhaps unsurprising that this section of the population remains at higher risk from heart disease.
Also, while bariatric surgery can lead to a significant weight loss a lot of patients remain heavily overweight for a considerable time after surgery and some individuals will remain so for years to come.
Finally, the changes in lifestyle following surgery can be dramatic and a lot of patients experience depression during the months following their operation.
Certainly a great deal of attention is given to the physical affects of surgery and the need for things like a strict diet and exercise but, all too frequently, little more than lip service is paid to the very real psychological affects of surgery.
Only time will tell whether or not this explanation holds water but there should be little doubt that improved follow-up care for obesity surgery patients could go a long way towards solving this anomaly.
But to what extent can these risks be lowered by undergoing weight loss surgery? A study recently examined the records of a large number of patients who had undergone bariatric surgery in the 10 years from 1995 to 2004 and found that about one percent of patients died within twelve months of their operation and roughly 6 percent died within 5 years.
When the numbers had been adjusted to take account of sex and age and matched against statistics for the general population they were found to be relatively high.
So just what does this say about the ability of weight loss surgery to lessen the general risk to our health? In order to find the answer this question then we must look behind the headline numbers and look at just why these deaths occurred and where the real variation lies between obesity patients and the population at large.
If you consider the breakdown of the numbers two particular things stand out.
The first is the figure for deaths resulting from heart disease which is the major cause of death in the weight loss patients and is considerably above that seen in the general population.
The second is the figure for deaths that resulted from suicide and drug overdoses that, although not formally classified as suicide, must nevertheless raise the question of whether these overdoses were truly accidental.
Within the population at large you could expect to see roughly 2 deaths from suicide in a group of the same size as the study group and yet the group of patients showed a total of 30 deaths from suicide and drug overdoses.
If we look at these results and consider them alongside our general knowledge about patients having weight loss surgery then we may possibly explain this variation to a certain degree.
Although gastric bypass surgery is generally extremely successful it is often not carried out until patients are suffering from other medical problems and, although surgery may cure several of these problems and lessen the risk from others, a lot of patients are still at some risk after surgery.
For instance, in a lot of cases patients remain troubled by things like hypertension and diabetes and it is perhaps unsurprising that this section of the population remains at higher risk from heart disease.
Also, while bariatric surgery can lead to a significant weight loss a lot of patients remain heavily overweight for a considerable time after surgery and some individuals will remain so for years to come.
Finally, the changes in lifestyle following surgery can be dramatic and a lot of patients experience depression during the months following their operation.
Certainly a great deal of attention is given to the physical affects of surgery and the need for things like a strict diet and exercise but, all too frequently, little more than lip service is paid to the very real psychological affects of surgery.
Only time will tell whether or not this explanation holds water but there should be little doubt that improved follow-up care for obesity surgery patients could go a long way towards solving this anomaly.
