Surgery Decreases Long-term Mortality, Morbidity, and Health Care Use in Morbidly Obese Patients

Obesity is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality. The impact of surgically induced, long-term weight loss on this mortality is unknown.

We used an observational 2-cohort study. The treatment cohort (n = 1035) included patients having undergone bariatric surgery at the McGill University Health Centre between 1986 and 2002. The control group (n = 5746) included age- and gender-matched severely obese patients who had not undergone weight-reduction surgery identified from the Quebec provincial health insurance database. Subjects with medical conditions (other then morbid obesity) at cohort-inception into the study were excluded. The cohorts were followed for a maximum of 5 years from inception.