Biotech Values

[DewDiligence]

1 in 50 death rate:
You really have to be desperate to have this procedure…

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20051018/hl_nm/obesity_surgery_dc

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Obesity surgery deadlier than thought: study

CHICAGO Oct 18 (Reuters) - Stomach-shrinking surgery to treat severe obesity is riskier than previously thought for men, the elderly and people with conditions such as hypertension, researchers said on Tuesday.

Patients are told the risk of death is anywhere from one in 500 to one in 1,000 for the increasingly common procedure, said Dr. David Flum of the University of Washington.

But for those on Medicare, the federal health insurance program covering people over age 65 and those disabled by problems including obesity, "the risk of death is more like one in 50," he said.

"There are certain people who are higher risk within that Medicare group. Men, for example, have a much higher risk, nearly double the risk of women, and people with other medical conditions like high blood pressure, diabetes, those people are at higher risk than those without those conditions," Flum said.

But he added that "the fact that it has a higher risk of death than we've previously estimated, I think should not get in the way of this being an effective tool for selected people who need it."

MEN TWICE AS LIKELY TO DIE AS WOMEN

For people over age 65, Flum's study found 11 percent of patients died after stomach-shrinking surgery, a mortality rate higher than that following heart surgery.

Men undergoing bariatric surgery were twice as likely to die -- 7.5 percent within a year -- than women, even though women make up roughly four out of five people opting for it, the study found.

In some types of bariatric surgery, large portions of the intestine are bypassed to lessen the absorption of nutrients from food.

Another risk factor is having a less experienced surgeon <no kidding>, his study of 16,155 Medicare patients published in this week's issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association said.

A companion study in the journal said bariatric surgery has grown exponentially since 1998. It projected 130,000 procedures would be performed this year in the United States and 218,000 by 2010.

A growing number of these patients are women, and nearly two-thirds live in neighborhoods with the highest household incomes.

Demand for the surgery is fueled by a quadrupling of the obesity rate between 1986 and 2000, with one out of 20 U.S. adults having a body mass index 40 or higher, study author Dr. Heena Santry of the University of Chicago said.

Body mass index is computed by measuring height and weight, and a figure of 40 or above constitutes so-called morbid obesity.
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