Older Patients Find Another Benefit of Lap Band Surgery

Age does not increase the risks that are sometimes linked to weight loss surgery and bariatric medicine, according to a new study, and Dallas Bariatric surgeons are some of the first to agree with the study’s findings. Researchers studied data on approximately 50,000 adults pulled from a national registry known to have had laparoscopic bariatric surgery procedures over a four year period. During that time, between 2005 and 2009, adults age 65 and older who had weight loss surgery doubled. One would assume most practices offering weight loss surgery in Dallas have seen similar numbers. Researchers analyzed the many factors surrounding bariatric surgery before and after the participants’ procedures actually took place.

The study revealed adults over 65 were not at greater risk of a major health complications or dying within a month of their surgeries compared to younger patients. However, seniors were more likely to stay in the hospital longer following bariatric surgery. Whether patients considered more affordable lap band surgery alternatives was of no interest to the researchers, but could have been analyzed as a variable, as income has been proven to impact the degree of health risks an individual may have demographically speaking.

Director of Baltimore’s Johns Hopkins Obesity Surgery Service, Thomas H. Magnuson, MD says there has been a dramatic increase in bariatric surgery among older patients. He says the study brings to light the fact that outcomes in older patients are still safe and that offering surgery to them remains sensible. Magnuson also seems to think another benefit of lap band surgery and other bariatric procedures in older patients is improving their quality of life, a bonus many of their younger counterparts may take for granted. While patients undergoing bariatric surgery in Texas, may reveal different results in terms of quality of life, it is assumed data would be similar.

In terms of the study’s parameters, researchers reviewed and analyzed the records of the nearly 50,000 bariatric surgery patients, whose information was collected by hospitals, around the country by way of the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program.

Study participants had the required body mass indexes (BMIs), over 35, to qualify for bariatric surgery procedures. Each individual had undergone one of the following surgeries: a laparoscopic gastric banding ( lap band surgery), open duodenal switch, laparoscopic gastric bypass, or a vertical banded gastroplasty.

The rate of mortality, as defined in this study by the risk of death within a 30-day period of bariatric surgery, was just above 0.10 percent for adults 35 to 49, 0.21% and 0.4 percent for those in the over 65 age bracket.

Before reaching any irrefutable conclusions, researchers accounted for other factors thought to play a role in the outcome of bariatric procedure, including gender, pre-surgery weight, diabetes, heart disease, as well as kidney function. And to their surprise, the mortality rate for older patients was not significant statistically, which means there was no discernable difference in the instances of death occurring in patients over 65 years old.

Middle-aged adults also had no significant difference in terms of the amount of health risks, or adverse events, associated with their surgeries as older adults did, including: stroke, coronary failure, and surgery-related infection.

Author and Bio: Dr. Louis Fox, M.D., F.A.C.S. is the Director of the Advanced Lap Band Center which is a Dallas Bariatric Surgery Clinic located in Dallas, Texas. Dr. Fox has been recognized by D Magazine’s Best Doctor’s peer review as one of Dallas’ best in 2007, 2008, 2009 and 2010.