Weight loss helpful before gastric bypass

Last Updated: 2007-10-16 15:18:54 -0400 (Reuters Health)

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People undergoing gastric bypass surgery for obesity can significantly reduce the length of their hospital stay if they lose 5 percent to 10 percent of their excess body weight before the procedure. In addition, the amount of weight they shed subsequently is likely to be greater, new research shows.

The findings come from a study of 884 patients who underwent gastric bypass at the Geisinger Medical Center in Danville, Pennsylvania between 2002 and 2006.

Prior to surgery, the subjects were advised to lose 10 percent of their extra weight. Forty-eight percent of patients managed to drop at least that much, Dr. Christopher D. Still and colleagues report in the Archives of Surgery for October.

Losing more than 5 percent of excess weight before surgery reduced the likelihood of having to stay in the hospital for more than 4 days.

Furthermore, patients who lost 10 percent or more of their excess body weight before surgery were significantly more likely than others to drop 70 percent of their excess weight during the following year, the report indicates.

As weight-loss surgery becomes the "mainstay" of treatment for obese patients, weight loss prior to surgery "may have significant clinical impact," the researchers conclude.

SOURCE: Archives of Surgery, October 2007.