Gastric bypass for morbid obesity in patients more than fifty years of age.

Morbid obesity, a weight twice that ideal for a given height, has evolved as a disease of affluent societies. Surgical treatment of this disorder has largely involved intestinal bypass procedure. Thirty-six patients more than 50 years of age have undergone a gastric bypass for the treatment of morbid obesity. The 28 females as well as the eight males were part of a group of 503 patients undergoing gastric bypass for treatment of morbid obesity. The mean age was 55 years, with extremes at 50 and 68 years, respectively. Weight loss was 40 per cent less than for the younger patients, averaging only 29 kilograms after two years, and the operative mortality was four times that for younger patients. The cause of limited weight loss after gastric bypass in this older age group of patients is unclear. However, unless there is specific value to be obtained from a modest weight loss, gastric bypass is not recommended as treatment for morbid obesity in patients more than 50 years of age.