Weight-Loss Surgery Reduces Heart Risk
| Date Posted: 11/21/2012 | Author: Mandy McCue
FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital opened its doors on Thanksgiving Day, 1929, with only 33 beds and 27 staff members. Since then, Moore Regional Hospital has grown to a staff of almost 3,000 with a number of unique services including Robotic Surgery, a Comprehensive Cancer Center, Center for Health and Fitness and Bariatric and Weight-loss Surgery.
Bariatric surgery has become increasingly popular worldwide with over 220,000 surgeries performed every year. FirstHealth offers many weight-loss options including weight-loss surgery, weight-loss options through the Health and Fitness Center, and an up and coming residential weight-loss program.
To qualify for weight-loss surgery you must have a Body Mass Index of 40 or higher, which means you are more than 100 pounds over the ideal weight for your height. The weight-loss surgery options FirstHealth provides are
Most weight-loss surgeries prove successful when it comes to weight-loss but they are also successful at improving the patients overall health. Weight-loss surgery could reduce the risk and the effects of diabetes, sleep apnea, high blood pressure, joint problems, depression and heart disease.
The researchers of a new study published in the journal, Heart took 73 different studies that were published between 1950 and 2012 that focused on the effects of bariatric surgery on cardiovascular risk, heart failure and structural changes to the heart. According to the National Institutes of Health, the studies showed 44 percent of the 20,000 participants had high blood pressure, 24 percent had diabetes and 44 percent had high blood cholesterol.
After the participants received surgery, aside from a 54 percent decrease in excess weight, the risks for stroke, heart attack and heart failure had improved, with an average of 63 percent improvement in blood pressure, 73 percent improvement in diabetes and a 65 percent improvement in harmful blood fats.
“The magnitude of effect on [cardiovascular] risk factors is impressive, and to date no pharmacological therapy for weight management or diabetes has shown a comparable effect over these short time periods.” said Amanda R. Vest, M.B.B.S., of the Heart and Vascular Institute at the Cleveland Clinic, who was one of the main researchers on this study.
Reid Heart Center, the FirstHealth Cardiac and Vascular Institute at Moore Regional Hospital features the next generation of cardiac and vascular care. To learn more about the Reid Heart Center and the treatment they provide please visit FirstHealth.org.
If you are interested in learning more about weight-loss surgery and its benefits, you should attend one of the FirstHealth Bariatric Center’s free bi-monthly weight-loss seminars held on the first Thursday and the third Monday of every month. Please visit our website to register.
FirstHealth Moore Regional Hospital in partnership with Pinehurst Surgical offers weight-loss options for patients in the Pinehurst, Raeford, Sanford, Lumberton, Laurinburg, Rockingham and Troy regions of North Carolina and beyond.
