Surgery Best Option for Severe Obesity

Because of the high medical expenses incurred by patients who are severely obese, bariatric surgery offers a viable way to reverse obesity-related diseases and reduce medical costs, according to the Centers for Obesity Related Illness (CORI, Bannockburn, IL, USA).

People who are severely obese incur almost twice the annual medical expenses of those people who are not overweight, mainly because of obesity-related diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and high blood pressure. Bariatric surgery can help diabetics attain normal blood sugar levels or make it easier for those with hypertension to achieve normal blood pressure--all without continued medication. People with a body mass index (BMI) of 40+ or who are 100 pounds or more overweight are considered morbidly obese and eligible for surgery. The U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) advise that surgical weight loss is the most effective lasting solution for losing 100 pounds or more.

"Obesity costs employers more than U.S.$13 billion annually in healthcare costs and lost productivity, an expense that could be shaved significantly by weight loss surgery,” commented Alan Bernstein, M.D., M.P.H., chief medical officer of CORI. CORI recommends that corporations support medically supervised weight loss programs offering surgical options. CORI centers are operated by MSO Medical, Inc. (Bannockburn, IL, USA), which contracts with acute care hospitals to establish bariatric surgery centers of excellence under the brand name CORI.

A study in the December 2004 issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine found that 7% of U.S. obese employees said they had some form of work limitation due to health or other issues, compared to 3 % of workers with normal weight. The impact of obesity on worker health and productivity was found to be equivalent to adding 20 years of age.




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