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Health Benefits of Bariatric Surgery

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Not only do most patients lose weight with bariatric surgery, evidence increasingly shows a reduction in the health risk factors associated with obesity, such as Type 2 diabetes, sleep apnea, hypertension, high cholesterol and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease.

Two landmark studies in The New England Journal of Medicine in August 2007 1, 2 showed a significant long-term survival benefit for people who have bariatric surgery. A 2003 study showed that gastric bypass surgery patients had an increase in life expectancy of 2.4 years compared to patients who used diet and exercise to lose weight.3 A Canadian study found that bariatric surgery patients had significantly reduced mortality rates compared to morbidly obese people who did not have surgery.4

For patients with Type 2 diabetes, bariatric surgery can often produce a quick and permanent resolution of the disease. In January 2008, an article published in the Journal of the American Medical Association5 reported that 75 percent of patients who had laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding surgery had a complete remission of their diabetes compared to 13 percent who were medically managed.  An earlier study showed that diabetes symptoms were eliminated in 83 percent of gastric bypass patients and markedly improved in 17 percent.6

  1. Sjostrom L, Narbro K, Sjostrom C. D., et al. Effects of Bariatric Surgery on Mortality in Swedish Obese Subjects. The New England Journal of Medicine. 2007;357:741-752.
  2. Adams T, Gress R, Smith S, et al. Long-Term Mortality after Gastric Bypass Surgery. The New England Journal of Medicine. 2007;357:753-761.
  3. Patterson E, Urbach D, Swanstrom L. A Comparison of Diet and Exercise Therapy versus Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass Surgery for Morbid Obesity: A decision Analysis Model. Jour Am Coll Surg. Mar 2003;196:379-384.
  4. Christou N, Sapmalis J, Liberman M, et al. Surgery Decreases Long-term Mortality, Morbidity, and Health Care Use in Morbidly Obese Patients. Ann Surg. 2004;204(3):416-424.
  5. Dixon JB, O'Brien PE, Playfair J, et al. Adjustable Gastric Banding and Conventional Therapy for Type 2 Diabetes: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Journal of the American Medical Association. 2008 Jan 23;299(3):316-323.
  6. Schauer PR, Burguera B, Ikramuddin S, et al. Effect of Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass on Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. Ann Surg. 2003 Oct;238(4):467-84