Bariatric surgery

Studies at The Alfred hospital showed patients were older, heavier, with a mean body mass index over 50 kg/m2 and suffered a higher number of baseline metabolic co-morbidities (mean 4.2) compared to other series.

Complications resulting from surgery were low (3.4%) with no mortality. Patients lost substantial amounts of weight 25 kg (50% excess weight loss) at five years and co-morbidities improved as did quality of life (Sf-36). Importantly, at six years over 88% of patients were still engaged in the follow up system.

These data validate the high intermediate term success of bariatric surgery in the public health care system in a large and metabolically unwell cohort.