How Obesity Surgery Benefits Your Health

Obesity is a chronic disease that has become the great epidemic of the 21st century. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), if we continue in this way, without changing our lifestyle habits and without applying urgent measures to treat obesity, Europe will be plunged into a serious obesity crisis by the year 2030. Today in Spain, 30% of the population suffers from this disease, the prelude to which is overweight.

How to know if you are obese

The indicator of obesity is the Body Mass Index (BMI). This is calculated with a simple mathematical equation: BMI = kg/m2 (weight divided by height squared).

If the result is 30, one is considered obese, and if it is higher than 35 or 40, it is considered morbidly obese, so the situation is more serious and the only option to cure it is bariatric surgery.

Health risks of obesity

In an obese person, the risk of suffering from other diseases is very high. In addition, it has been shown that people with obesity have a life expectancy 15 years less than non-obese people. The main diseases associated with obesity are:

  • Diabetes
  • Sleep apnea
  • Heart problems
  • Respiratory failure
  • Cancer
  • Osteoarthrosis
  • High cholesterol

Candidates for obesity surgery

It is important to see a specialist in General and Digestive Surgery to evaluate each case in a personalized way. However, it is usual that the following requirements are met:

  • People with BMI over 40
  • People with a BMI between 35 and 40 with associated pathologies.
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Benefits of obesity surgery

Obesity surgery offers excellent results to lose excess weight and recover the health lost due to associated pathologies. In the best expert consultations in obesity surgery, results like these have been achieved:

  • Diabetes: 90% of patients stop taking medication. Better results in patients with severe obesity and type II diabetes mellitus.
  • Sleep apnea: 95% improvement. A year and a half later, it disappears completely in the patient who has undergone surgery.
  • Hypertension: improvement is evident from the third month after the operation. Improvement in 86% of patients and 70% stop taking medication.
  • High cholesterol: 70% of patients reduce their medication.
  • Osteoarthrosis: all operated patients improve six months after obesity surgery.