40% of Weight-Loss Surgery Patients Develop Complications

A growing number of people opt for surgery as a way to lose weight, but four in 10 develop complications within six months after surgery, according to a new U.S. government report. In the report, published in the August issue of Medical Care, the authors looked at 2,522 insurance claims for bariatric surgery -- the general term for surgery to combat obesity -- done in 2001 and 2002.

"We found that the complication rate in the hospital was 22 percent, but it went up to 40 percent over the next six months," said lead author William Encinosa, a senior economist at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, which sponsored the study.

The most common complications were dumping syndrome, which includes vomiting, reflux and diarrhea; complications resulting from the surgical joining of the intestine and stomach, such as leaks or strictures; abdominal hernias; infections and pneumonia, the researchers found.

"These additional medical utilizations are expensive," Encinosa said. Costs averaged $36,542 for obesity surgery patients who had complications in the six months after surgery, compared with an average of $25,337 for patients without complications.

Moreover, medical care costs for patients who were readmitted to the hospital because of a complication averaged $65,031, compared with $27,125 for those who didn't have to be rehospitalized.

The American Society for Bariatric Surgery and other groups have established standards to qualify hospitals and doctors in preforming the procedure. Most surgery is a minimally invasive laparoscopic procedure. "More than 60 percent of these operations are done laparoscopically," they said. "Within two to three years, it will be more like 90 or 95 percent."

Courtesy of HealthDay News