Nowadays, a person suffering from morbid obesity has a life expectancy lower than that of some cancers or that AIDS. This is explained by the high risk of death by heart attack, which is up to five times higher than that of the general population.

The vast majority of morbidly obese patients have alterations in their devices or they already have a constituted disease that can affect the Cardio-circulatory System, Respiratory Apparatus, Digestive Apparatus, the Urinary, the Reproductive, the Renal System, the Endocrine-metabolic, the Neuro -psychiatric, osteo-articular, skin, etc.

These people have their vital signs altered and an analytical repercussion that is the reflection of their multiple pathologies. But they also suffer more frequently than the general population cancers such as endometrium, ovary, breast, prostate, colon and rectum, or gallbladder cancer.

When should we act

If the Body Mass Index (BMI) is higher than 35 and there are associated diseases, we are facing a risk situation that must be tackled. The affected person should be placed under the supervision of an endocrinologist to control their weight loss, although if this fails, they should undergo surgery.

The surgical techniques of today are very safe. The mission of the surgery should be to create the least number of side effects to the patient, that is why the vertical gastrectomy is having more and more predicament, since it does not create a new patient because of its hypovitaminosis or hypoproteinemias. It is a merely restrictive procedure, since it only decreases the capacity of the stomach, which has to follow some simple guidelines in the postoperative period. It usually does not require admission to the ICU and hospital admission is usually around 3 days.

Some facts about obesity

Obesity is a true epidemic in the 21st century. In the USA there is already 25% of morbid obesity and in Mexico 23%. In our country, the average is 14%, but there are Autonomous Communities, such as the Canary Islands, which reach 19%. The morbidly obese patient is a physically and psychologically ill person who needs medical help and who must be treated.