Researchers say that using stomach-shrinking surgery to treat severe obesity is riskier than previously thought for men, the elderly and people with conditions such as hypertension.
According to Dr. David Flum of the University of Washington, patients are told the risk of death is anywhere from one in 500 to one in 1,000 for the increasingly common procedure, 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.
Flum says there are certain people who are higher risk within that Medicare group; men apparently have a much higher risk, almost double that of women, and people with other medical conditions such as high blood pressure, and diabetes, are at higher risk than those without those conditions.
However he does add that this higher risk of death than was previously estimated, should not deter the procedure from being an effective tool for selected people who need it.
Flum's study found that for people over age 65, 11 percent of patients died after stomach-shrinking surgery, a mortality rate higher than that following heart surgery, while men undergoing bariatric surgery were twice as likely to die, 7.5 percent within a year, than women, even though women make up roughly 4 out of 5 people opting for it.
Apparently in some bariatric surgery procedures, large portions of the intestine are bypassed to lessen the absorption of nutrients from food.
Another risk factor is having a less experienced surgeon.