Rural patients had more than a six-fold greater risk of receiving emergency care for self-inflicted harm after their weight-loss operations, the study found. One limitation of the study, however, is its use of billing data to identify drug overdoses, which might not be an accurate indicator of whether the act was intentional or accidental, the authors acknowledge. Researchers started monitoring the patients 3 years prior to surgery and continued the follow-up for 3 years after the surgery.
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In an interview with Wall Street Journal, American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery president John Morton notes that hospitals are required to conduct a mental health screening for at least five years after surgery, but this study might highlight the “burden of disease” brought about by obesity.
Although a few patients had self-harm emergencies, the risk of these emergencies increased by approximately 50 percent after surgery, they said. Intentional overdose was the most common method of suicide.
Here it must be mentioned that the new study by Dr. Bhatti is special as none of the previous studies followed patients for the period prior to the surgery to the period following the surgery.
Although the risk of self-harm is still small, there is an important increase in the years before and after surgery, Ghaferi said, adding that he would be “extremely shocked” if it did not have something to do with the operation.
An accompanying editorial noted the identification of patients with an increased risk of such adverse outcomes “remains an elusive goal”.
Bariatric surgery, more popularly known as weight loss surgery or obesity surgery, continues to soar in popularity around the world as the worldwide obesity rate continues to increase and more and more people are now opting to go under the knife to lose weight and attain the good looks and curvy body figures.
These patients spoke the truth 50 percent more prone to attempt to take their own lives after they lost a considerable measure of weight, while more than nine of 10 suicide endeavors included patients with a past filled with psychological wellness issues, the Canadian specialists found.
Gastric band surgery to lose weight can drive people to suicide, suggests new research.
According to the results, before bariatric surgery the risk of self-harm in patients set to undergo the procedure reached twice the level of risk in the general population. Like all surgery, it isn’t risk-free, and bariatric operations in particular may cause malnutrition.
But mental health problems are prevalent in morbidly obese patients and those undergoing bariatric surgery.
Almost all events involved patients with a history of a mental health disorder, particularly those diagnosed in the last 4 years.
“Bariatric surgery follow-up is notoriously poor”, Ghaferi said.
One of the treatments used against the condition is Bariatric surgery.
The actual number of self-harm emergencies among the 8,800 people was low – 111 patients had 158 such emergencies.
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“We don’t really have a good way of screening these people”, Ghaferi said. It’s a procedure that helps patients achieve weight loss by reducing stomach capacity and shrinking it to the size of a shot glass. Patients fall off the radar.
