Complications Follow Obesity Surgery
Four in 10 obesity surgery patients develop complications within six months of leaving the hospital — and 18% require a new hospital visit, a federal study shows.
The 40% complication rate is far higher than the 10% to 20% complication rate for most surgeries. It's also higher than previously reported rates for obesity surgery; most earlier studies looked only at 30-day data.
William E. Encinosa, Ph.D., along with colleagues at the U.S. Health & Human Services' Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), looked at private insurance claims filed for 2,522 obesity surgeries at 308 hospitals in 49 states.
Dr. Neil Hutcher, who specializes in weight-loss surgery and is past president of the American College of Bariatric Surgery, discussed the findings on The Early Show Tuesday. To watch the interveiw,
They found that about 22% of patients had complications within 30 days of leaving the hospital. But by 180 days, this rate had jumped by 81%. More than 18% of patients needed some kind of hospital visit after their initial surgical stay.
The most common complications for patients:
If this sounds scary, it is. But it's not as scary as living with morbid obesity. Studies suggest obesity surgery cuts a person's risk of death by nearly 90%. Three percent of under-40 obesity surgery patients die within 13.6 years — far fewer than the nearly 14% who die without the surgery.
"Obesity surgery is helping thousands of Americans who have not succeeded at losing weight reduce their risk of diabetes and other life-threatening diseases," AHRQ director Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D., said in a news release. "But this study shows how important it is for patients to consider the potential complications when they make the decision to undergo the procedure."
Obesity surgery also may end up costing more than people expect. If everything goes well, Encinosa's team found, the cost of the surgery averages $27,125. But if a patient has to be re-hospitalized within six months, the average cost rises to $65,031.
The study appears in the August issue of the journal Medical Care.
SOURCES: Encinosa, W.E. Medical Care, August 2006; Vol. 44; early advance issue. News release, Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, Rockville, Md.
By Daniel J. DeNoon. Reviewed by Louise Chang, M.D.
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