Long term results of gastrectomy with respect to blood lipids, blood pressure, weight and living habits.

A sample of ambulant Japanese-American men (ages 45-69 years), was divided into those having a previous partial gastrectomy and a control non-gastrectomy population. Three-hundred-and-forty-seven men with a history of partial gastrectomy weighed less and had lower values for serum cholesterol, triglyceride, and blood pressure than did the control population of 7,598 men. The depressed lipid and blood pressure values could not be entirely explained by the reduced weight. Likewise, none of these differences appeared related to diet or living habits. Those operated on for gastric ulcer had, on the average, lower systolic pressures than duodenal ulcer patients and those with gastrojejunal anastamoses had lower cholesterol levels than patients with a gastroduodenostomy.