Muddy Statistics (reposted from the Mens board)

I just read a short article in the 22 Oct 2005 issue of "Science News" about the dangers of bariatric surgery and they threw out a few numbers but little real information. They stated that 19.3 % of California post GBS patients "returned to a hospital" within the first year after their operation and about 15% for years 2 and 3. Period. Now what the hell does that tell me? With what I know about post-op life these could be removal of excess skin, repair of muscle hernias, gall blader removal, revisions as well as the warned-about internal hernias/ blockage and leaks or even just a precautionary check for such conditions. They could possibly even be unrelated mental, accident, heart, vascular/stroke and cancer problems. (Wouldn't that be a ***** to go thru this then, God forbid, die of cancer?) The article references the Oct 19 issue of the Journal of American Medical Assoc. which apparently had three related articles. Science News dumbed it down enough to make a strong point that the procedure was dangerous. It's only in the last paragraph that they say "It's the only intervention that provides significant and sustained weight loss for obese individuals." Then again counter in the last sentence that everyone involved should consider the risks. Duuuuhhhhh!!! Guess I'll have to get a copy of the Oct 19 JAMA and get the skinny (so to speak) on all this. Have a great day Rich

If this is the same article I read and heard about on the news it was a study of Medicare paitents only! Now not to stereotype but more often than not the people on Medicare/Medicaid who are over 18 or under 65 are on it because they are on full or partial disabilty. We all know how hard it is to get the government to approve you for disability. I think statistically they would have many more co-morbid factors that would make them higher risk to begin with. I guess what I am saying is Medicaid/Medicare paitents are not an accurate crossection of the whole WLS population. Look it up on CNN.com, they pulled it straight off the associated press. Even the original article cited the pluses as well.. Cam

You are right, Cam. I did read the original article in JAMA and if you wanted to gather statistics on a more sick and disabled group of people I do not think you could find it. Rich

I have Medicaid...and I'm not partially disabled or fully disabled...just poor. lol