Efficacy of gastric bypass in the treatment of obesity-related comorbidities.

Background: Obesity is associated with multiple comorbidities, including hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, diabetes mellitus, obstructive sleep apnea, osteoarthritis, back/extremity pain, gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD), asthma, and depression. Surgical weight loss can markedly improve if not resolve many of these comorbidities.

Methods: This was a retrospective study of 400 consecutive gastric bypass patients, analyzing postoperative resolution or improvement of obesity-related comorbidities.

Results: Mean follow-up period for these patients was 12.8 months, with a range of 0.3-30.6 months. Comorbidities were present in 21%-65% of the patients. Hypertension, hyperlipidemia, diabetes mellitus, obstructive sleep apnea, GERD, and asthma either resolved or improved in 80%-100% of the patients. Arthritis, back or extremity pain, and depression also improved but to a lesser extent, in 52%-73% of patients. Our patients' quality of life greatly improved even at 6 weeks postoperatively in 35% of the patients, and this increased to >80% after 18 months.

Conclusions: Gastric bypass surgery for the treatment of morbidly obese patients has a profound positive impact on obesity-related comorbidities. Also, patients' quality of life is dramatically improved in the majority of patients when compared with their preoperative status.