October 22, 2002
Recent research has shown that gastric bypass not only helps patients take excess weight off and keep it off, it may also increase life expectancy by three years or more. Researchers at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire -- who conducted a statistical analysis of a wide variety of studies -- found that on average, a 40-year-old woman with a BMI of 45 kilograms per meter squared or greater would gain three years of life expectancy after undergoing a gastric bypass procedure.
Gastric bypass surgery physically limits the amount of food patients are able to take in and, as a result, a significant amount of weight loss is achieved. Staples are applied across the stomach to reduce its capacity by around 90 percent of its original size. A portion of the small intestine is then attached to the stomach so that food passes directly from the surgically-created gastric pouch into the intestine. Since the stomach is reduced in size and the connection between the gastric pouch and intestine is so small, patients cannot consume large amounts of food and they become quite ill if they attempt to eat more than the quantity pouch allows them.
The life expectancy-gastric bypass study results were presented at the 2002 Clinical Congress of the American College of Surgeons. The Dartmouth-Hitchcock researchers reported that obese individuals in other age or gender groups would have similar gains in life expectancy. Twenty-year-old females would gain 3.4 years of life after gastric bypass, while males at age 40 would gain 3.9 years of life, and at age 20, males would gain an additional 3.5 years. Clinical investigation shows individuals with a BMI between 18 and 22 live longer than those with a higher BMI. Individuals with a BMI greater than 25 are considered to be overweight. Morbidly obese individuals, who have BMIs of 40 or greater, are 100 or more pounds overweight.
