BACKGROUND: The direct relationship between elevated cholesterol and atherosclerosis is known for a long time. Dyslipidemia is frequent in obese patients. Surgery for treatment of morbid obesity aims to loose weight and correction of co-morbidities. This study analyses the lipid profile of obese before and one year after gastric bypass. METHODS: Charts of 143 patients were reviewed evaluating the levels of cholesterol (TC), cholesterol linked to high-density lipoprotein (HDL), cholesterol linked to low-density lipoprotein (LDL), trigliycerides (TG) and body mass index (BMI) pre-operatively and one year after the operation. RESULTS: The levels of TC, HDL, LDL and TG were 201.7 mg%, 47.9 mg%, 122.6 mg% and 153.7% respectively. One year after the operation, the levels of TC dropped 12.5%, LDL 14.3%, TG 29.5% and HDL raised 18.5%. The lipid profile normalized in 73.9% of patients. CONCLUSION: The pre-operative prevalence of dyslipidemia is high in morbid obese patients. There is a significant improvement in the lipid profile one year after the gastric bypass.
Obesity; Gastric bypass; Hyperlipidemia; Cholesterol; Tryglicerides; Post-operative period
