Obesity surgery
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With the high prevalence of obesity and associated comorbidities, the costs of health services produce a great economic impact. The objective of this work was to evaluate the economic benefits of bariatric surgery and to relate the costs to the impact on the health of the individual. A historic cohort study was conducted, with review of medical charts of 194 patients who fulfilled the inclusion criteria for the study. ⋯ No statistically significant difference was seen with respect to the prevalence of comorbidities between the sexes in the pre- and postoperative periods (p > 0.05). With regard to age, younger patients showed lower rates of comorbidities in the pre- and postoperative periods (p < 0.001). The costs of the surgery are high, but the expenditures for medications, professional care, and examinations decrease progressively after the operation, where this is more evident in patients with more associated comorbidities.