Long-Term Health Benefits Associated With Bariatric Surgery Procedures

Long-Term Health Benefits Associated With Bariatric Surgery Procedures

A recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association and JAMA Pediatrics found that three years after undergoing either gastric banding or gastric bypass, adult patients lost a significant amount of weight, especially in the first year. Children were found to experience lesser complications from surgery then adults.

Adult gastric bypass surgery patients weigh 31.5% less while lap band patients had 15.9% less weight after their surgery. However, two-thirds of gastric bypass patients and nearly 25% of lap band patients saw that their Type II Diabetes went into partial remission, as reported by the study by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.

Nearly 17% of children and one-third of all American adults are considered obese. According to Michael Nusbaum, chief of bariatric surgery and director of Bariatric Services at Morristown Medical Center believe that his study emphasizes how well weight loss surgery works in keeping people healthy or helping to bring them to health. Ultimately, in some cases weight loss surgery is the only way for some patients to take the weight off they need in order to live healthy.

The study itself focuses mostly on children and how safe the procedure is for them especially the reversible gastric banding procedure. The National Institute studies on weight loss reduction surgeries first launched in 2003 for adults and studied children and teens in 2007. Other studies focused on patients in a more concentrated geographic area and didn’t show patients who had lost significant weight. However, the adult study used patients from 10 different hospitals across the United States. The study will continue until 2016.

Another study by the Society of American Gastrointestinal and Endoscopic Surgeons believe that patients should know immediately that baritric and weight loss surgeries have both short and long-term risks and complications especially for patients with Type II Diabetes.
According to the Cleveland Clinic, many patients can expect to improve their symptoms or reverse their diabetes condition altogether. They also may reduce their cardiovascular risks, including risk of stroke, heart disease or heart attack. All of these positive effects can occur up to nine years after undergoing weight loss surgery. Some of the main predictors associated with sustained diabetes remission are a shorter duration of diabetes prior to surgery, having gastric bypass versus gastric banding and long term weight loss.

Ultimately, most obese patients who have Type II Diabetes who have weight loss surgery see substantial improvements in their ability to control their blood sugar with less medication. Many even experience remission where they no longer require any treatment or medication at all.