Obesity is associated with an increased risk number of lifestyle disorders like hypertension, heart disease, stroke, diabetes mellitus, osteoarthritis and certain types of cancers. The risk of these diseases is directly linked to increasing BMI.
The risk is only modestly increased in people with class 1 and class 2 obesity but rises rapidly in the morbidly obese group with BMI > 35 kg/m2. All of these contribute to increase in morbidity and mortality for the individual and a decrease in overall lifespan.
Bariatric surgery has shown to decrease the incidence of acute coronary events and all risk cardiovascular mortality. It has a marked effect in remission of diabetes mellitus and also decreases the incidence of obesity linked cancers. It has been shown by various studies that bariatric surgery contributes an overall increase in lifespan by 4-6 years.
Moreover, it improves the quality of life by reduction in morbidity and thus adds more meaningful years to a person’s life. Hence, contrary to the popular belief that surgical intervention might decrease lifespan or lead to deterioration in the quality of life, bariatric surgery has proven to be beneficial in both of these aspects.