A Study Of Life After Gastric Bypass Surgery

With obesity rates continuing to rise in many Western countries people are becoming ever more sensitive to the health risks associated with being substantially overweight and of the increased risk of death resulting from obesity. But to what extent are these risks lessened by obesity surgery?

A recent study looked at the histories of a substantial number of individuals who underwent gastric bypass surgery in the 10 years from the start of 1995 to the end of 2004 and discovered that roughly one percent of patients died within twelve months of their surgery and that approximately 6 percent died inside 5 years. When these statistics were adjusted to account for age and sex and matched against figures for the population at large they were discovered to be fairly high. So what does this say about the ability of obesity surgery to reduce the general risk to our health?

In order to find the answer this particular question then we have to look beyond the headline figures and look at just why these deaths happened and where the true difference lies between weight loss patients and the general population.

If you examine the detailed figures two particular things stand out.

The first is the figure for people whose deaths resulted from heart disease which is the leading cause of death in the weight loss patients and is well above that seen in the population at large.

The second is the figure for deaths which resulted from suicide and from drug overdoses which, although not officially recorded as suicide, must nevertheless raise the question of whether these overdoses were in fact accidents. In the population at large you would expect to find approximately 2 deaths from suicide in a group of the same size as the study group and yet this study group showed a total of 30 deaths from suicide and drug overdoses.

If we look at these findings and consider them alongside our wider knowledge about individuals undergoing obesity surgery then we might perhaps explain this variation at least in part.

In spite of the fact that obesity surgery is frequently very successful it is often not undertaken until individuals are at risk from other conditions or comorbidities and, while surgery may cure several of these conditions and reduce the risks from others, many individuals are still at some degree of risk after surgery. In many cases for instance people continue to be troubled by such things as diabetes mellitus and high blood pressure and it is possibly unsurprising that this section of the population remains at higher risk from heart disease.

Further, while gastric bypass surgery may result in a significant loss in weight many people are still very much overweight for a long time after surgery and many individuals will remain so for months or years to come.

Lastly, the changes in lifestyle following surgery can be dramatic and many individuals experience depression in the months following their surgery. Without doubt much attention is paid to the physical affects of weight loss surgery and the requirement for such things as a strictly controlled diet and exercise but, all too frequently, very little attention is paid to the psychological affects of surgery.

Time will reveal the extent to which this explanation holds water but there should be little doubt that improved post-operative care for weight loss patients could go a long way towards finding a solution for this difference.


GastricBypassFacts.info provides information on all forms of weight loss surgery from the roux-en-y gastric bypass to the mini gastric bypass

By: Donald Saunders