Morbidly obese seniors, age 65 and over, who had laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery lost nearly 76 percent of their excess weight after two years and had low complication rates and short hospital stays comparable to younger surgical patients, according to a new study presented today at the 26th Annual Meeting of the American Society for Metabolic & Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS).

“Bariatric surgery in the older population is underutilized because of a misperception that old age alone puts patients at higher risk for complications and mortality,” said Joseph Kuhn, MD, coauthor and director of General Surgical Research at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, TX. “We found seniors can benefit just as much as younger people from bariatric surgery without taking on additional risk.”

In one of the largest series of laparoscopic gastric bypass surgeries performed on elderly patients, researchers from Baylor University Medical Center analyzed a prospective database of 100 patients over age 65 and compared safety and outcomes to a younger population. All patients had laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery between January 2005 and July 2008. Prior to surgery, older patients demonstrated higher operative risk profiles compared to their younger counterparts in relation to sleep apnea (45% vs. 34%), Type 2 diabetes (65% vs. 33%) and hypertension (81% vs. 57%). Older patients ranged in age from 65 to 77 with an average BMI of 45, and younger patients ranged in age from 18 to 64 with an average BMI of 47.

Postoperative excess body weight loss (EWL) and complication rates were comparable in both groups. At 12 and 24 months, both lost nearly the same amount of weight patients over age 65 showed 75.9 percent EWL after one year and 75.5 percent after two years; patients under 65 showed 77.8 percent EWL after one year and 79.2 percent after two years. Neither group reported any deaths in the two year followup period, and postoperative complications were low bleeding (>65 1% v. < 65 1.3%), pulmonary infections (>65 3% v. 65 2% vs. 65 1% v.