HEALTH RISKS
Health Risks of Obesity
The rate of obesity has doubled in America in the past two decades. Obesity places an individual at significant risk for developing multiple different medical conditions, including diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and obstructive sleep apnea. Adulthood obesity is associated with a decrease in life expectancy of about seven years in both men and women and after smoking, it is the second-leading preventable cause of death. For example, a 20-year old morbidly obese male has a life expectancy 13 years shorter than a 20-year old normal weight male. Excess weight affects every system of the body. Successful weight loss surgery can help alleviate and in some cases even cure certain obesity-related health problems.
Some common health problems associated with morbid obesity, separated by organ system, include:
- Body image issues
- Depression
- Obstructive sleep apnea
- Obesity hypoventilation syndrome (leads to low oxygen levels in the blood, interrupted sleep)
- Asthma/reactive airway disease
- Restrictive lung disease
- Multiple disorders, most related to diabetes and yeast infections between skin folds
- High blood pressure
- Heart failure caused by pulmonary hypertension
- Higher risk of coronary artery disease (atherosclerosis)
- Congestive heart failure
- Breast
- Uterus
- Prostate
- Kidneys (renal cancer)
- Colon
- Pancreas
- Stomach (gastric cancer—can spread to esophagus and intestines)
- Gallbladder
- Endometrium (inner membrane of the uterus)
- Frequent urinary tract infections (UTIs)
- Stress urinary incontinence
- Menstrual irregularity or infertility
- Gallbladder disease
- GERD (recurrent heartburn)
- Recurrent ventral hernias
- Fatty liver disease / cirrhosis
Endocrine
- Pre-diabetes
- Diabetes
- Hirsutism (excess body hair)
- Hyperlipidemia (abnormal levels of lipids or lipoproteins in the blood, including cholesterol)
- Hypercholesterolemia (high levels of cholesterol in the blood, often leading to cardiovascular disease)
- High cholesterol (dyslipidemia)
- Degeneration of knees and hips
- Arthritis
- Disc herniation
- Chronic non-surgical lower back pain
- Joint pain or osteoarthritis
- Serious back problems or degenerative disc disease