Thin People At Greater Risk of Dying After Surgery, Study Finds

Keith Brofsky/Thinkstock(CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va.) -- Being thin isn't an advantage when it comes to surviving surgery, a new study finds.

University of Virginia researchers say that heavier people have a lower chance of dying within 30 days after an operation as opposed to their thinner counterparts.  George Stukenborg and his team aren't really sure why that is after setting out to learn how obesity affects the risk of surviving surgery.

Typically, people with higher body mass index rates are prone to contract more life-threatening diseases, but these new findings of post-surgery complications among thin patients have left scientists puzzled.

Dr. Nestor de la Cruz-Munoz, chief of bariatric surgery at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, believes the answer is that, "a lot of these patients are malnourished -- maybe cancer patients, patients undergoing treatment for other medical problems.  A lot of time these patients don't have the defenses to do well with a major surgery."

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