Health Cost of Obesity
There are many medical ailments that can be directly related to obesity. The incidence of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, obstructive sleep apnea and elevated levels of cholesterol are only a sampling of the many maladies that increase in incidence and severity as one’s degree of obesity increases. Accordingly there have been several recent medical studies that confirm our suspicions that along with the resolution of these co-morbidities, weight loss surgery can, in fact, result in a longer life expectancy.
Two significant studies have evaluated the incidence of death in morbidly obese patients that either did or did not have weight loss surgery. The studies – one from Utah and the other from Sweden – were published in the August issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
The Swedish study found that after 10 years, the percentage of weight loss in the surgical patients was 25 percent in the gastric bypass patients, 16 percent in the vertical-banded gastroplasty patients and 14 percent in the lap-band patients. The death rates were 6.3 percent in those patients who did not have surgery and 5 percent in those who did have weight loss surgery.
In the overall group of 4047 patients over a period that averaged 10.9 years, there was a statistically significant decrease in mortality in those individuals that had surgery.
The Utah study was done from 1984-2002 with 9949 patients with a mean follow-up of 7.1 years. The long-term mortality from any cause was decreased by 40 percent in those patients who underwent gastric bypass surgery. Cause-specific deaths were decreased by 56 percent for heart disease, 92 percent for diabetes, and 60 percent for cancer in the surgical patients.
These are both impressive studies that once again affirm the real benefits of weight loss. Our patients can attest to the health benefits that are realized with surgical intervention. This compelling evidence on the increase in life expectancy is hard to refute. Perhaps the third-party payers will heed this data and provide coverage for this life-saving procedure.