Bariatric Surgery: Reducing Mortality and Improving Health Outcomes

Obesity is both associated with and predisposes to a barrage of medical conditions which have a significant impact on the lives of individuals. These include diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular conditions such as stroke, hypertension, to mention a few. Management remedied for attaining weight loss have usually centred on lifestyle modifications -  exercise, adopting healthier diets and eating healthy - and drugs.

Despite the discipline required to follow through on lifestyle changes, only a few individuals lose significant weight, and this weight is more often regained in no distant time. This can prove both frustrating and discouraging.

Surgical options have been tried out with excellent results. Bariatric surgery makes use of bariatric techniques such as bariatric surgery sleeve, ileal interposition and transit bipartition. These procedures are associated with excellent weight loss, better long term maintenance of weight, improvement in complications, and an overall reduction in mortality. Thus, bariatric surgery is now the most effective means of achieving weight loss.

Studies published in American journals have come up with the finding that obese individuals who underwent bariatric surgery had a reduction in mortality and improvement in health outcomes compared to other obese individuals who relied on lifestyle modifications and medical management.

Researchers at a tel Aviv hospital who compared 8385 obese patients who were matched with 25155 other patients who had no surgery, discovered that those who did not have surgery done, had almost double the mortality of those who had bariatric within the follow up period.

A related study at the University of Minnesota found that patients who had bariatric surgery had better health outcomes within a 5year period. Thus, in addition to causing weight loss, which is a short term effect, there is a long term improvement in health outcomes (such as better sugar control, blood pressure control, decrease in circulating blood cholesterol levels), and a decrease in mortality compared to obese patients who didn't have any surgery done.

These beneficial effects are achieved by several mechanisms which include

-an alteration in the capacity and absorptive characteristic of the gut

- causing hormonal changes in the body.

These benefits lead to improvement in co-existing morbidity, improvement in the quality of life, and consequently increased longevity and decreased mortality from various causes. Hence, bariatric surgery sleeve has the potential to offer a new lease of life to obese patients when they undergo the procedure.