Bariatric surgery reduces mortality in Swedish men

Abstract

Background: Mortality is lower in obese patients who have undergone surgery for obesity than in those who have not. The majority of patients in these studies have been women. Perioperative mortality is known to be higher among men, and this may counterbalance the survival advantage seen after surgery. This cohort study compared mortality among operated obese patients, non-operated obese patients and a general control cohort of men. Methods: The study was based on record linkage between Swedish registries. An operated obese, a non-operated obese and a general control cohort were created. The two non-operated cohorts were assigned pseudosurgery dates. Data regarding preoperative and postoperative morbidity were collected, as well as mortality data. Results: Hazard ratios were calculated for mortality between the cohorts adjusting for preoperative morbidity and age. Comparison of all-cause mortality for the obese surgical and non-surgical cohorts gave an adjusted mortality risk of 0.7 (95 per cent confidence interval (c.i.) 0-5 to 1.0) (P = 0.039); the adjusted mortality risk was 1.5 (95 per cent c.i. 1.1 to 2-0) (P = 0.011) when the obese surgical cohort was compared with the general control cohort. Conclusion: Bariatric surgery reduces overall mortality in obese men. Copyright © 2010 British Journal of Surgery Society Ltd.