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01.12.2018 12:26:49
According to a new study, if obese patients undergo gastric restrictive surgery, in subsequent years the risk of premature death is reduced by half as compared with people who have lost weight only with the help of diets and lifestyle changes.
Scientists at the North-West Institute have found out that after surgery people with obesity are less likely to die as compared with people who have changed only their diet and lifestyle. The doctors published the results of their research in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).
Experts have concluded that bariatric surgery is very cost-effective. It leads to significant weight loss and can help beat type 2 diabetes. Some British surgeons, for example, even believe that there is a need for more operations of this kind in the UK. According to the author of the study, Philip Greenland, there are not enough results to make the final conclusion that patients with obesity need to undergo such a surgery. “The so-called gastric balloon can also help patients lose weight without surgery,” says the doctor.
The new study was to find out if gastric restriction has a long-term effect on the risk of premature death in overweight people as compared with the non-surgical way of losing weight. In total, more than 33,500 people took part in the study, of which 8,385 tried one of the three types of bariatric surgery from 2005 to 2014. Most participants had a BMI higher than 35. Obesity is diagnosed if BMI is 30 or higher.
The scientists observed the participants for many years after surgery until death or until the end of the monitoring period in December 2015. Then the results were compared with the data obtained from the obese patients who did not have the surgery. The study showed that the death rate for the patients with any form of bariatric surgery was 1.3% during the study. For the participants who did not have any surgery the risk level was 2.3%.
As soon as other factors, such as age, gender and related diseases, were taken into account, the scientists were able to find out that for the non-operated participants the risk of premature death was nearly twice as high as compared with those who had been operated on. In addition, the operated patients exposed greater reductions in BMI, a lower incidence of diabetes and improved blood pressure. Most diabetics went into remission.
As part of another not such a large-scale study, also published in the JAMA, the scientists compared the marker of diabetes in obese adults who had had type 2 diabetes for nine years on average. At the same time, the advantages of bariatric surgery were studied. For two years, the participants either had intensive nutrition, sports and medical care, or they additionally had surgery. The results of 113 participants showed that the operated patients lost more weight in one year.
