Obesity¹ surgery, which is fast becoming a popular way to battle the nation's weight crisis, may be a lot riskier² than most patients realize.

New research found a higher-than-expected risk of death in the year after surgery, even among young patients.

"It's a reality check for those patients who are considering these operations," said University of Washington surgeon Dr. David Flum, lead author of a Medicare study that analyzed³ the risks.

The findings appear in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical Association. Some previous studies of people in their 30s to their 50s - the most common ages for obesity surgery - found death rates well under 1 percent.

But in a study of 16,155 Medicare patients who underwent obesity surgery, more than 5 percent of men and nearly 3 percent of women aged⁴ 35 to 44 were dead within a year. And slightly higher rates were found in patients 45 to 54.

Among patients 65 to 74, nearly 13 percent of men and about 6 percent of women died. In patients 75 and older, half of the men and 40 percent of the women died.

There are several types of operations to lose weight, most generally involving surgically⁵ shrinking the stomach and usually restricted to "morbidly⁶" obese⁷ people more than 100 pounds overweight.

Those patients often have medical problems brought on by their girth, including heart trouble, diabetes⁸ and breathing difficulties — problems which obesity surgery can sometimes resolve but which can also contribute to making the surgery risky⁹. 

　　中文：

　　随着美国体型超重的胖人越来越多，减肥外科手术也迅速成为了一种对抗体重危机的流行手段。然而减肥手术也存在着很大的危险。美国研究人员日前表示，这种手术的危险性可能要比大部分患者想象的更为严重。

　　据美联社10月18日报道，这项新的研究结果发现，在手术后的一年中，接受手术者面临的死亡危险要高出预期水平，甚至在年轻患者中也是如此。

　　虽然，此前曾有一些研究结果显示，30岁至50岁（最容易接受减肥手术的年纪）的人在接受了这类手术后，死亡率为不到1％。但是，在对16155名接受了减肥手术的美国医疗保险患者进行调查之后，研究人员发现，手术危险远远超出了人们的预想。

　　研究显示，在35岁至44岁的年龄段中，有超过5％的男性和接近3％的女性在术后一年内死亡；在45岁至54岁的年龄段中，死亡率还要稍稍高一些；在65岁至74岁的年龄段中，约有13％的男性和6％的女性死亡；而在75岁或更高年龄的人当中，有半数的男性和40％的女性死亡。

　　对此，此项研究的负责人、美国华盛顿大学的外科医生大卫·弗卢姆表示，“对于那些正在考虑进行这类外科手术的人来说，这是一个现实性的制止”。

　　报道说，减肥外科手术有几种不同的类型。最常见的有通过手术缩小胃部等。虽然手术有可能治愈肥胖，但同时也会带来很大的危险。这项研究被发表在最近一期的《美国医疗协会期刊》上。

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