Weight Loss Surgery Risk Factors

Researchers provide top six weight-loss surgery risk factors.
The Los Angeles Times (6/15, Roan) "Booster Shots" blog reported that although weight-loss surgery is "safe and effective for most people," complications do occur. Researchers reported Wednesday at the annual meeting of the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery that they had "devised a list of the top six risk factors." The factors include age, type of operation (gastric bypass or gastric band), surgical technique (open or minimally invasive surgery), patient gender, insurance type, and presence of type 2 diabetes.
Rush to discharge weight-loss surgery patients may raise risks. HealthDay (6/15, Preidt) reported that weight loss surgery "patients who are discharged from the hospital too soon after undergoing gastric bypass have an increased risk of complications and death," according to findings presented at the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery meeting. After analyzing data from "nearly 52,000 gastric bypass" patients, researchers found that those released from the hospital the "day of surgery were 12 times more likely to have serious complications (1.9 percent versus 0.16 percent) and 13 times more likely to die than patients who left the hospital after the US average of a two-day stay."