Long-term complications of significant weight loss: lessons learned from bariatric surgery

Abstract

The increasing prevalence of worldwide obesity calls for a comprehensive understanding of available treatment options. Bariatric surgery remains a very effective obesity treatment, showing substantial effects on obesity-related complications, including type 2 diabetes mellitus and cardiovascular disease, mainly related to significant long-term weight loss. Besides the benefits, weight loss can lead to some deleterious consequences, such as gallstones, constipation, muscle mass loss, bone fractures, vitamin deficiencies, peripheral neural palsy, suicide, eating disorders, alcohol dependency syndrome, and increased divorce. Those consequences may also be seen after long-term effective pharmacotherapy for obesity. Understanding these risks will lead to improved awareness and successful treatment with both surgical and nonsurgical treatments.