Weight Loss Surgery May Help Prolong Lives

Obesity has strongly been associated with health risks, including potential death due to the cardiovascular risks associated with it. While many resort to dieting and exercise in an effort to trim down their weight, there are some who resort to weight loss surgery.

From the term alone, not all may be able to afford or even think of surgery to cut off the excess fats but a new study could make them think again. The study comes from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden which showed how death rates rendered a significant difference. Christina Persson led the team.

Data from 49,000 obese people were reviewed, aged 18 to 74. Of those, 22,500 underwent weight-loss surgery from 2000 to 2011 while 26,000 didn’t undergo one. The procedure done on the weight-loss surgery group was called “gastric bypass”.

Per the study, the death rate in the weight-loss surgery group went down by 57% compared to the non-surgical group. Those results held steadily when adjustments were made to the age group as well as other conditions (i.e. heart disease, cancer and diabetes).

As far as deaths in the non-surgical group, it was found that heart disease and cancer were among the leading causes.

“This population-based cohort observational study indicates that the overall all-cause mortality is considerably lower among obese individuals who undergo bariatric surgery compared to non-surgical obese individuals, and the differences lies mainly in cardiovascular disease and cancer,” said the study’s authors.

Given those findings, is weight-loss surgery ideal? Though it does claim to prolong lives, there could be consequences. She weighed

Take the case of Hilary Corrigan, 56, who had to pay the price for undergoing one by giving up her marriage which didn’t seem much of a regret for her considering it was a rocky one to begin with. She also lost some friends as well due to the changes in her lifestyle as she narrated on The Guardian.

“People should be offered weight-loss surgery if they are really overweight and are serious about doing something about it. Losing weight would surely save not only lives, but also NHS money and resources. It’s win win,” says Corrigan.