Complications of gastric partitioning for morbid obesity

Death rates for the morbidly obese are at least 11 times higher than for the nonobese, although the most popular and frequently cited study involved men only. In addition to the risk of disease, morbidly obese patients are subject to social and economic discrimination. This severely impairs their ability to function in society. The benefits from weight loss include frequent amelioration of complications, such as hypertension, cardiorespiratory disease, diabetes, and so forth. But a reduction in the mortality with weight loss has not yet been demonstrated, and many obese patients are in apparent good health for years. Surgery seems to offer the only hope for these unfortunate patients, but it is important to avoid over enthusiastic approaches until long-term, prospective studies clearly establish efficacy and unsuspected complications. The literature suffers from short follow-up periods and lack of standardization of the operative procedure. Various methods of reporting results have made comparison and interpretation difficult.