Surgical weight loss seems to no longer risky for the elderly

the elderly may undergo surgery for weight loss without worse side effects of young people to experience, new research shows.

"Age does not appear to be a significant predictor of mortality or major adverse events, but it provide for a longer period of stay in hospital, said Dr. Robert b. Dorman, which is slated to present the findings Monday at Digestive Disease week in Chicago." Research presented at medical meetings must be regarded as preliminary.

"Assessment of risk in the elderly be a paramount issue, especially as the Baby Boomers continue to age" added Dorman, who approached the conclusion at a press conference on April 21. "Bariatric surgeons should be cautious in operating on an old obese patient." "Are certainly not gives us a green light to operate on patients without prejudice to the individual risk.

There was a debate whether it is appropriate to perform this type of intervention on aged patients with obesity.

According to Dr. Stephen Carryl, Director of the Bariatric Surgery Hospital of Brooklyn in New York, the National Institutes of Health has recommended that the age of 65 should be cut-off for Bariatric Surgery.

"To which became sort of the artificial standard," he said.

In contrast, Medicare pay for the surgery of the loss of weight in this population, he added.

These researchers have studied a database of 50,000 patients a different types of surgery for the loss of weight between 2005 and 2009. Approximately 4% were over 65 years, said Dorman, a resident in general surgery at the school of Medicine of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

Older people underwent Bariatric Surgery in 2009 than in 2005 (4.77% vs. 1.92%).

There was a trend towards greater mortality in patients aged 65 years, but this is not important, said the authors.

Although age is not correlated with adverse events such as heart attacks or the formation of blood clots, higher body mass index (BMI), diabetes and chronic renal failure were.

The only apparent downside that Bariatric Surgery when older, at least in this group, has been a longer hospital stay.

But, showing that the procedures are safe in a old population does not mean that people over 65 will have access to them.

"Medicare is a small player in the Bariatric population," said Carryl. "The majority have private medical insurance."

And not all commercial providers will pay for this in the elderly population.