Do Gastric Bypass Patients Usually Die 10-15 Years After Surgery? Is This True?

Gastric bypass surgery will increase not decrease your life-span.  Morbid obese patients die 12 - 15 years earlier than normal weight persons.  Patient that undergo bariatric surgery decrease their 5 year mortality by up to 89%.  Weight loss surgery is the recommended treatment for patients that suffer from morbid obesity.  it decreases most of the medical problems related to obesity like diabetes and heart disease which results in decreased mortality.

The answer is absolutely no. The largest study showing death rate after bariatric surgery was done in Sweden and was published a few years ago in the New England Journal of Medicine. They followed approximately 5,000 patients for 10.9 years and they had a 99.9% follow-up rate. Half of the patients had bariatric surgery and the other half were treated with conventional medical therapies for obesity (diet, exercise and behavior modification). The study showed that the patients who had bariatric surgery had a 29% decrease in their death rate over that ten year period. Bariatric surgery is not a detriment to your health whereas obesity is.

Nutritional deficiencies and vitamin deficiencies are usually very easily treated. Most bariatric surgeons will usually check vitamin levels every three months for the first year and yearly after that. If a vitamin deficiency is found, we treat it.