Why losing weight before bariatric surgery could save your life

Weight loss surgery can come with big benefits, not only boosting your confidence every time you look in the mirror but lowering your risk of chronic conditions, like heart disease and diabetes.

In fact, studies show that patients with severe obesity who have gastric bypass surgery reduce their risk of dying from obesity and other diseases by an incredible 48 percent up to 10 years after surgery, compared to patients who skip the procedure.

Yet, bariatric surgery can also be dangerous, raising your risk of death, especially during the first 30 days after surgery. Now, a new study has found that you can combat that risk simply by losing a small amount of weight prior to entering the operating room.

Current surgery guidelines

Although the risk of death from bariatric surgeries such as gastric bypass is considered to be low at less far less than 1 percent, surgeons have long believed that weight loss prior to surgery could bring the number deaths in the U.S. down even further.

Yet, since no studies had been performed to test the theory, pre-operative weight loss has never been added to the surgery guidelines.

And according to researchers from the University of Iowa, Wuhan University and Abbott Nutrition, “Each year, hundreds of patients in the U.S. die after undergoing bariatric surgery.”

So they set out to answer the question of whether weight loss works in reducing the risk of death for good in order to save more lives.

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A life-saving change in the scale

For their study, the researchers reviewed the data from more than 480,000 bariatric procedures performed in the United States and Canada between 2015 and 2017.

And here’s what they found…

Compared with patients with a pre-operative BMI (body mass index) of 35.0 to 39.9, patients with a pre-operative BMI of 40.0 to 44.9 had a 37 percent higher risk for death during the first 30 days after surgery, the authors found.

Related: Boost vitamin D before bariatric surgery

And as weight went up even higher, so did the risks.

Those with BMIs of 50 and above were more than twice as likely to die during the first 30 days following the procedure.

Now, here’s where the weight loss came in…

• People who lost up to five percent of their body weight before the procedure (compared to patients who did not lose any weight) reduced their risk of death within 30 days by nearly 25 percent.
• Those who shed between five and 9.9 percent of their weight reduced their risk by more than 30 percent.
• And the biggest winners were those who dropped more than 10 percent of their weight before surgery, with a reduced risk of death within 30 days of more than 40 percent.

Those are big benefits from a relatively small amount of weight loss!

The researchers say that the reason losing weight prior to bariatric surgery could save your life might be that the weight loss lowers your chances of developing complications like venous thromboembolism, including deep vein thrombosis, as well breathing problems both during and after surgery.

They also point out that weight loss can also lessen the complexity of the surgery, to further reduce your risk of complications.

So, if you’re considering bariatric surgery, take steps now to lose weight prior to the procedure to make it as safe as possible.  A good place to start? Check out these 22 weight loss tips.

Sources:

1. Losing weight before bariatric surgery reduces risk of death by 40 percent — United Press International
2. 10-year data shows gastric bypass patients significantly reduce risk of dying early from obesity and other diseases — Science Daily