According to a study published in the Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology bariatric (weight loss) surgeries, such as gastric bypass or gastric banding, significantly reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in obese people.
Researchers conducted a review of medical records of thousands of patients to assess the effect of surgical weight loss procedures on the development of diabetes. In the records, they identify 2167 obese adults without diabetes who underwent one of three surgical procedures (laparoscopic adjustable banding, sleeve gastrectomy, or gastric bypass) for weight loss from 2002 onwards. Data from these patients were compared with data from matching number of controls, who correspond in age, sex, BMI; but who did not have surgery or other obesity treatments. Participants were followed up for a maximum of 7 years (median 2.8 years).
During follow-up, 38 new diagnoses of diabetes among participants who had weight loss surgery were recorded, compared with 177 in control participants. Compared with controls, diabetes incidence was reduced by about 80 per cent in participants who had surgery, even after controlling for other important factors including smoking, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.
“Our results suggest that bariatric surgery may be a highly effective method of preventing the onset of new diabetes in men and women with severe obesity,” study author Martin Gulliford, a professor of public health at King’s College London, said in a journal news release.
Obesity and overweight increases severely the risk of developing of diabetes. Each year, about 3% of people with obesity develop this disease.
“We need to understand how weight-loss surgery can be used, together with interventions to increase physical activity and promote healthy eating, as part of an overall diabetes prevention strategy,” Gulliford added.
In an accompanying commentary, Dr. Jacques Himpens of Saint Pierre University Hospital in Brussels, Belgium, pointed out that while the findings “bring us a step closer to confirming the effect of bariatric surgery on the incidence of type 2 diabetes, many questions still remain unanswered, and more evidence is needed to convince endocrinologists about the nature of this effect.”
Through: Health Library, King’s College London
