Older age may mean larger risks for obesity surgery

The older you get, the more likely you may be to think much more heavily about going through with weight loss surgery, according, according to a surgeon who performs these operations and has studied the outcome.

Dr. Edward H. Livingston of the UT Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas recently said that older patients need to think very long and hard about having bariatric surgery (weight loss surgery) and be more prepared for complications and other issues that may arise.

Dr. Livingston and his colleague found that complications rose as people aged -- and these complications showed a "steep increase" after age 65. Dr. Livingston performed a review of more than 25,000 weight-loss operations for his conclusions performed between 2001 and 2002 across the U.S.