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Bariatric Surgery: Obesity Related Health Conditions

Medical complications of obesity may occur in moderately obese people but the frequency of these associated problems increases dramatically as weight increases. For example, very obese men between the ages of 25 and 35 have 12-fold greater risk of dying prematurely compared to their normal weight counterparts. Medical conditions that are commonly caused or exacerbated by obesity are outlined by organ systems:

• Pulmonary - Obstructive sleep apnea, obesity hypovententilation syndrome, asthma/reactive airway disease
• Cardiac - High blood pressure, Cor Pulmonale, coronary artery disease
• Gastrointestinal, abdominal - Gallbladder disease, GERD or recurrent heartburn, recurrent ventral hernias, fatty liver
• Endocrine - Diabetes, hirsutism, hyperlipidemia, hypercholesterolemia
• Genitourinary, reproductive - frequent urinary tract infections, stress urinary incontinence, menstrual irregularity or infertility
• Musculoskeletal - degeneration of knees and hips, disc herniation, chronic non-surgical low back pain
• Skin - multiple disorders, most related to diabetes and yeast infections between skin folds
• Cancer risk - breast, uterine, prostate, renal, colon, pancreatic, gastric, gallbladder and endometrium
• Psychological - depression, low self-esteem

Gastric Bypass surgery offers long-term weight control often resulting in the resolution or amelioration of multiple comorbidities. This ultimately contributes to an improved quality of life.