Bariatric surgery is now recognized as a successful treatment option for the prevention of serious complications associated with obesity, such as diabetes and high blood pressure.

Researchers from the Medical University of South Carolina and Imperial College London studied the bariatric surgery rates in the United Stated from 1999 to 2010. What they found was that 22 percent of black women and 11 percent of black men were eligible for the surgery, while 12 percent of white women and eight percent of white men were eligible. However, twice as many eligible white men and women than black will actually receive the surgery.

A difference in insurance coverage did appear to play a role in the discrepancy with about 70 percent of eligible white men and women having private insurance while only 50 percent of eligible black men and women had the same.

“Bariatric surgery has been shown to be an effective treatment for moderate to clinically severe obesity and more importantly is has the benefit of successfully resolving or improving the important chronic conditions of diabetes and hypertension in the majority of cases,” said Arch G. Mainous III, from the Medical University of South Carolina.

“Bariatric surgery can improve quality of life, decrease the risk of premature death, and lower disability and health-care costs. Consequently, this health disparity in treatment has implications for health care costs and morbidity due to common diseases like diabetes and hypertension, conditions that are highly prevalent in the African American community,” he added.

Dr. Sonia Saxena, of the School of Public Health at Imperial College London, said, “Our earlier research found that 45 per cent of overweight patients who regularly visited the doctor’s office did not recall being told by their doctor that they had a weight problem. Those who did were six to eight times more likely to recognize the problem and twice as likely to do something about it.”

Around half of the black men and women in the US are obese, compared to a third of white men and women. The study found that about six of every thousand eligible white women received the surgery compared to 3 out of every thousand eligible black women and two of every thousand eligible white men received the surgery compared to one of every thousand eligible black men.

These findings were published on August 5 in the American Journal of Gastroenterology.