Increase in Self-Harm Emergencies Noted After Bariatric Surgery

By Joe Elia

Edited by Susan Sadoughi, MD, and Richard Saitz, MD, MPH, FACP, FASAM

Patients undergoing bariatric surgery show a small but definite increase in self-harm emergencies after the procedure, researchers report in JAMA Surgery.

Using Ontario provincial health records, the researchers compared rates of self-harm incidents in the 3 years preceding surgery versus the 3 years following it in some 8800 patients. Self-harm was measured as emergency visits for medication overdose, physical trauma, alcohol, and toxic-chemical poisoning. The group had a 1.3% overall incidence for the 6 years of study.

The postoperative rate of self-harm, 3.63 events per 1000 patients annually, was some 50% higher than the preoperative rate of 2.33. The increase, according to the report, was "particularly evident" in people aged 35 and older, those with lower income, and those living in rural areas.

Commentators argue that it's time physicians treated bariatric surgery as "more than just an operation."