Summary: What are your chances of increased suicide behavior after weight-reduction surgery?If you've been struggling with losing weight and you feel like you're running out of new diets and exercise trends to try, you may be considering weight loss surgery.Weight loss surgery can help those who are morbidly obese. Unfortunately, people who are morbidly obese also oftentimes suffer from mental health problems. Recent research has found that suicide risk might increase for some people after weight loss surgery.The study was published in the journal JAMA Surgery and looked at 8,800 patients in Ontario for three years before and after their weight loss procedures.Out of that group, 111 patients had 158 self-harm emergencies during the follow-up period and about 93 percent of those suicide attempts occurred in patients diagnosed with a mental health disorder prior to surgery.What else did the researchers find?Amir A. Ghaferi, MD, MS, joins Dr. Leigh to discuss weight loss surgery and who is at risk for a higher suicide rate.
