Study Questions Cost Savings of Weight-Loss Surgery

This study indicates that bariatric surgery does not reduce overall healthcare costs in the long term. In addition, there is no evidence that any one type of surgery is more likely to reduce long-term healthcare costs — those undergoing laparoscopic surgery had lower costs in the first few years after surgery, but these differences did not persist. Bariatric surgery did not reduce healthcare costs over the long term when surgery patients were compared with matched obese patients who did not have surgery, a review of almost 30,000 cases showed. Comment: as for other studies that have had high profile press releases time has shown that the results may not be as clear as initially presented.  But we must not lose sight of the fact that costs are not as important as health of the individual and bariatric surgery has been shown to make significant improvements in the health of those using it.
Source: Dr. Buttery's Public Health BLOG - Category: Epidemiologists Authors: Tags: Chronic Disease Economics policy Prevention research Source Type: blogs