Long term effects of obesity surgery examined

Over 120,000 Americans were reported to have had obesity surgery in 2003. After surgery, many obese patients not only lose significant amounts of weight, they also notice and improvement or total cure of other conditions such as diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol. A study to assess the long term effects of obesity surgery found that after two years, patients lost over 23% of weight. After 10 years, there was only a 16% weight loss which was also associated with improvement in diabetes and other conditions related to obesity. However, after 10 years, high cholesterol and high blood pressure, there was no improvement compared to the control group. Some researchers claim that this lack of improvement is age related rather than weight loss related. Longer term studies are needed to ultimately determine if obesity surgery effectively prevents heart attacks and strokes and whether life expectancy is improved.

Source: summary of medical news story as reported by The Boston Channel

Related Disease Topics:

• Obesity
• Overweight
• Diabetes
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Heart attack
• Stroke

Article Source Details

About: Long term effects of obesity surgery examined

Date: 22 December 2004

Source: The Boston Channel

URL: http://www.thebostonchannel.com/health/4018587/detail.html

Related Medical Topics

This summary article refers to the following medical categories:

• Death and obesity
• Death and overweight
• Surgery
• Surgery and obesity
• Surgery and overweight
• Research and obesity
• Research and overweight
• Research and diabetes
• Research and high blood pressure
• Research and high cholesterol
• Research and heart attack
• Research and stroke
• Risk and obesity
• Risk and overweight
• Risk and diabetes
• Risk and high blood pressure
• Risk and high cholesterol
• Risk and heart attack
• Risk and stroke

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