Gastric Bypass Surgery What African Americans Should Know
Released on = May 21, 2006, 9:45 am
Press Release Author = Robyn McGee
Industry = Healthcare
Press Release Summary = Obesity crisis in the African American community has many
going under the knife
Press Release Body = Gastric bypass surgeries have increased dramatically in recent
years, jumping more than 500 percent worldwide in the last eleven years, from 16,800
operations in 1993 to 140,640 in 2004, according to the American Society for
Bariatric Surgery. African Americans make up 9 percent of those patients, and the
average age is around thirty-nine, according to data complied by the International
Bariatric Registry.
Plastic surgery used to be frowned on in the African American community. "Being cut"
tapped into both a mistrust of the medical profession and an aversion to altering
one's features to look "more white" (Michael Jackson predictably comes up in that
discussion). But high profile celebrities, like singing legend Patti LaBelle, have
made so-called surgical makeovers more acceptable among blacks. In just two years,
the number of black cosmetic surgery patients has grown by almost one-third,
according to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons, jumping from 375,025 in 2002
to 487,887 in 2004.
Gastric bypass surgery is far more serious than a cut and fold, however. Desperate
to be thin, African American men and women are willing to risk their lives having
their stomachs cut and reconfigured. They see surgery as a shortcut to ridding
themselves of all their problems along with pounds of fat. They view weight loss
surgery as a magic bullet, a symbol for taking control of their lives, a renewal of
hope. They consider hair loss, additional surgeries, and eating complications after
gastric bypass operations are a small price to pay to be thin.
Fortunately, most people who undergo gastric bypass will not die. Weight loss
surgeons quote the mortality rate as one death out of every two hundred patients.
But a study by the University of Washington cites an even scarier statistic: one
death in every fifty, when taking into account all weight loss surgery patients at
all hospitals that will suffer and die from various surgery-related complications
such as blood clots, fluid leakage, and infections. In addition, the people who want
the surgery most--those with so-called "co-morbidities," such as diabetes and heart
disease--face the greatest risk of having something go wrong.
Awareness and action are critical if we are to improve our health and increase the
quantity of life for black people. Currently, life expectancy for black women is
75.5 years versus 80.2 years for white females. The statistics are even grimmer for
black males, whose life expectancy is 68.6 years versus 75.0 years for white men.
For more about African Americans, weight and body image, pick up HUNGRY FOR MORE by
Robyn McGee.
Logon to www.robynwrites.com or call (310) 722-5058
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