Question:
Are men at greater risk then women?

I am in the process of getting approved for WLS, so I have a lot of time to puruse the bios and stories of many members here. Recently I noticed on the Memorial Page that there is a much higher percentage of DEATH following WLS for men then the general ratio on men/women on this site would indicate. Am I reading something into this or are there any statistics on this subject?    — Rik R. (posted on January 12, 2003)

January 12, 2003
Go back and look at the BMI for those men. Unfortunately, we men tend to get larger than women when we become obese. I was freaked out by the memorial page before my surgery too, but I went and looked at the BMI and overall pre-op health conditions of the folks who didn't make it, and many of them had extremem BMIs and pre-existing health conditions. Many of them never even made it to surgery unfortunately.
   — Greg P.

January 12, 2003
I can't really explain the difference in death rates between men and women, but I have always wondered how many of the people that die post op died because of negligence of the surgeon or the hospital personnel involved with their surgery and post op care. How many of these people could have lived if everything involved with their surgery would have been done correctly and how many would have died no matter how carefully and how well things were done??? I am the author of the memorial of Ginger Brewster on the memorial page.
   — Hackett

January 13, 2003
I believe one possible reason for the seemingly higher death rate among men, is that men generally wait until they are heavier and unhealthier than women before they decide to pursue WLS. Heavier and unhealthier makes for greater surgical risk.
   — PaulaM