The use of weight loss surgery or bariatric surgery, is ten times more frequent in NHS hospitals in England, than it was in 2000, a new study published on bmj.com finds.

A team of researchers from the Imperial College London analyzed national results after surgery on obese patients in the NHS in England.

They used the Hospital Episode Statistics database, and they identified all adult patients that have had a first elective bariatric intervention between April 2000 and March 2008.


Scientists also recorded mortality rates 30 days and one year after surgery, as well as the overall hospital stay and unplanned readmission rates.

During this time period, a total of 6,953 bariatric procedures were carried out, the number of procedures rising more than ten-fold from 238 in 2000 to 2,543 in 2007, e! Science News reports.

Gastric banding proved to be less dangerous than gastric bypass, as patients that underwent gastric banding had lower post-surgery mortality and readmission rates, as well as a shorter length of stay, but the poorest post-surgery outcome belonged to patients with comorbidities.

Another type of procedures that saw its rates increase were laparoscopic procedures, from 28% in 2000 to 75% in 2007, but as it did not cause any increase in mortality or unplanned readmission, scientists suggested it has been introduced in a safe manner into the NHS.

One explanation for this increase in weight loss surgery is the higher demand of patients that become aware that surgery is a viable treatment option.

The surgery is performed only on people who are dangerously obese, with the purpose of loosing weight, and the most common interventions are: reducing the size of the stomach with a surgical band (gastric banding), re-routing the small intestines to a small stomach pouch (gastric bypass), or removing a portion of the stomach (sleeve gastrectomy).

The interventions reduce the risk of death, hospital admissions and long term expenses for the health department, and are recommended by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) for people with "morbid obesity" (body mass index of at least 40 or of at least 35 if accompanied by coexisting disease that could be improved by weight loss).

Possible candidates must have tried all other non-surgical treatments and failed, before they can actually have bariatric surgery, according to NHS official regulation, but who knows exactly?