Does obesity increase the chance of complications with surgery?

Stuart A. Linder, MD

Plastic Surgery

Obesity has been shown through countless studies to definitely increase risk of complications with surgery. Morbid obesity increases the risk of cardiovascular events and other complications in all types of surgery according to a recent study by the American Heart Association. Findings include that the physical exam and the electocardiogram underestimate cardiac dysfunction in obese patients. Also noted was the higher risk of bariatric surgery patients to have a serious cardiac complications. Conditions to watch for include: heart failure, hypertension, cardiac arrhythmias, deep venous throbosis, pulmonary embolus, and poor exercise capacity.

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Obesity

If you have too much body fat, you are obese, just like over 70 million other Americans. It happens because you eat more calories than you use, and your body converts the excess to fat. There are lots of reasons that this can happen. Our lifestyle may lack exercise, we are given portions that are too big and too caloric when we eat, and some of us are just more efficient genetically at converting food into fat.

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