According to a study out of Scotland, obesity in women is a major cause of an early death. This study gives even more support for the case of obesity surgery, including the Lap Band procedure in St. Augustine, as a means to reduce the risk of morbidity among obese women.

The study took place over 28 years, tracking over 15,000 people. The primary focus of the study was on 3,600 women between the ages of 45 and 64 that never smoked. Throughout the duration of the study over half of the study participants died. 51% of the women died from cardiovascular disease and 27% died from cancer. The findings revealed that the highest rates of death were among severely obese women, while the lowest death rates were associated with women who weren’t obese. Women with more financial resources were less likely to be severely obese than women of a lower socio-economic status.

Another finding of the study exposed that women who didn’t have a history of smoking were more likely to be obese or overweight than women who smoked. This finding suggests that the recent decrease in smoking rates could have propelled the growth in obesity.

Physicians and their patients need to be aware that obesity increases the risk of developing kidney, uterine, breast, colon, and other cancers — and therefore should be screened more aggressively. Because it can reduce the risk of developing cancer, reducing weight, either through non-surgical means or obesity surgery, such as the Lap Band procedure should be the first priority.