Criteria For Weight-Loss Surgery Should Be Lowered
Tuesday, February 19, 2013 - 12:31
in Health & Medicine
The Swedish Obese Subjects study carried out at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg found that, though weight-loss surgery is currently only offered to patients who exceed a certain BMI, surgical intervention would improve the health of many more people. In order to meet the current selection criteria for weight-loss surgery, Swedish patients must have a body mass index (BMI) above 40 for healthy patients, or above 35 in combination with other risk factors such as type 2 diabetes. They examined the cases of 104 patients who were operated on despite their BMI being "too low" by current standards yet as a result had a 67% reduced chance of developing diabetes. read more