Weight Loss Surgery Might Protect Against Cardiovascular Events

Bariatric surgery in obese individuals was associated with a reduced long-term incidence of cardiovascular (CV) events and death, according to a new study.

Researchers at the University of Gothenburg (Sweden) conducted a nonrandomized, prospective, controlled study of 2,010 obese participants who underwent bariatric surgery and 2,037 contemporaneously matched obese controls to evaluate the association between bariatric surgery, weight loss, and CV events during a median follow-up of 14.7 years. Inclusion criteria were age 37 to 60 years and a body mass index (BMI) of at least 34 in men, and at least 38 in women. The surgery patients underwent gastric bypass (13.2%), banding (18.7%), or vertical banded gastroplasty (68.1%), while the controls received usual care in the Swedish primary health care system. The main outcome measure was total mortality. Myocardial infarction (MI) and stroke were predefined secondary end points, considered separately, and combined.

The results showed that bariatric surgery was associated with a reduced number of CV deaths (28 events in the surgery group compared to 49 events in the control group). The number of total first time (fatal or nonfatal) CV events (MI or stroke, whichever came first) was also lower in the surgery group (199 events among 2,010 patients) than in the control group (234 events among 2,037 patients). On the other hand, the researchers found no significant relationship between weight change and cardiovascular events in the surgery or control group. The study was published in the January 4, 2012, issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

“These results together with our previously reported associations between bariatric surgery and favorable outcomes regarding long-term changes of body weight, cardiovascular risk factors, quality of life, diabetes, cancer, and mortality demonstrate that there are many benefits to bariatric surgery and that some of these benefits are independent of the degree of the surgically induced weight loss,” concluded lead author Lars Sjostrom, MD, PhD, and colleagues of the institute of medicine.

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