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Bariatric Statistics on Super Obesity

Posted by Bariatric Center on Monday, November 9th, 2009

A new study on Deaths Due to Super Obesity indicates that the veterans who were classified as being superobese and those who have more chronic disease are a good deal more prone to die inside a year of undergoing weight loss surgery. This is in accordance to an article entitled, Predictors of Long-term Mortality After Bariatric Surgery Performed in Veterans Affairs Medical Centers, published in the Archives of Surgery, a magazine of JAMA in 2009.

According to the recent research, the individuals who have class 3 obesity, also acknowledged as “super obesity”, are much more liable to pass away within a year of bariatric medical procedures. Super obesity is defined as somebody having a Body mass index (BMI) of over 40 or more.

The difficulty with past studies pertaining to bariatric surgery was the fact that the majority of of the studies was done on youthful women undergoing those procedures. Their bodies were more able to undertake the bariatric surgery with a very low occurrence of morbidity. Nonetheless, this research paper shows that for an older research group involving the death rate was a good deal higher within one year of the operation.

Deaths Due to Super Obesity

In this research done by David Arterburn, M.D., M.P.H., of Group Health Research Institute, Seattle, and contemporaries looked at all the factors that affected the wellbeing of over 800 individuals who had undergone weight-loss procedures between 2000 and 2006. The patients had an extremely high BMI, at an average of 48.7. The research group was also older at an average of 54 years old. There as a total of 73% males.

When examined on the whole, bariatric surgeons need to be up-front with patients who are super obese about the potential problems and danger involved by undergoing bariatric operation (especially coupled with chronic illness and being an senior male). If you are super obese who are thinking about weight loss surgery, be wary that the risks are far greater for death following a weight loss operation. All problems need to be thought of and compared in contrast to the possible benefits.

Deaths Due to Super Obesity Medical Journal reference:

1. David Arterburn; Edward H. Livingston; Tracy Schifftner; Leila C. Kahwati; William G. Henderson; Matthew L. Maciejewski. Predictors of Long-term Mortality After Bariatric Surgery Performed in Veterans Affairs Medical Centers. Archives of Surgery, 2009; 144 (10): 914-920

Summary of information on Deaths Due to Super Obesity from article by JAMA and Archives Journals.

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