Thursday, July 14, 2011
Weight-Loss Surgery Cost-Effective for All Obese
Bariatric surgery is not only cost-effective for treating people who are severely obese, but also for those who are mildly obese, according to a new study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The findings support making bariatric surgery available to all obese people, the researchers say.
Patients who have the surgery are more likely to keep weight off over time and have fewer medical problems related to their weight, indicating the procedure is a good value. But beyond being cost-effective, the analysis shows that bariatric surgery actually saves health-care dollars for the most severely obese patients who also have diseases related to their weight such as diabetes, heart disease and high blood pressure.
“If lifetime medical costs are taken into consideration, surgery saves severely obese patients money,” says Su-Hsin Chang, PhD, a postdoctoral research associate in the Division of Public Health Sciences and first author on the study published in the journal Maturitas.
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