The Nation - Weight-loss surgery saves lives, studies find - Bariatric procedures reduce deaths among obese patients by as much as 40%, two reports conclude.

Researchers already knew that bariatric surgery sharply reduced diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol, in addition to improving appearance and quality of life. But the new studies, reported in the New England Journal of Medicine, are the first to document a long-suspected link between weight loss and survival.

"It is now absolutely clear that losing weight and keeping the weight off adds years to your life," said Dr. Edward H. Phillips, a bariatric surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, who was not involved in the studies.

"The message is that if you are a morbidly obese diabetic, you are going to get sick and you are going to die young," said Dr. George A. Fielding, a bariatric surgeon at New York University, who also was not involved in the studies. "Here is an opportunity to take control of that situation."

Last year, about 177,600 Americans had bariatric surgery, according to the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. But that is less than 1% of those eligible for the surgery under the current criteria, the society said.

Guidelines call for a prospective patient to have a body mass index, or BMI, of 40, or a BMI of 35 and at least one other condition, such as diabetes or hypertension. For a 5-foot-10-inch person, a weight of 245 pounds would translate to a BMI of 35, and a weight of 275 pounds to a BMI of 40.

"If you have a BMI of 33 and have hypertension and diabetes, that is not much different from having a BMI of 40, and there is a real benefit to be had from getting the weight off," Fielding said.

In light of the studies and other results that have been accumulating over the last decade, those criteria should be eased to make more people eligible for the surgery, Dr. George A. Bray of Louisiana State University said in an editorial accompanying the studies.

The National Institutes of Health will convene a panel this fall to consider whether the guidelines should be changed.

There are two main types of bariatric surgery. The simplest is banding, in which an inflatable silicone band is placed around the stomach to reduce its capacity, allowing the patient to feel full after consuming much less.