Weight Loss Surgery Cuts T2DM Risk

Bariatric surgery may reduce the risk of developing T2DM among obese patients, according to the results of a recent study conducted in the UK.

The study, published online November 3, 2014, in the Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, followed obese adults who underwent bariatric surgery between 2002 and 2014 and matched them with controls who did not have surgery to evaluate the impact of the procedure on the development of T2DM. Bariatric procedures included laparoscopic gastric banding, gastric bypass, and sleeve gastrectomy.

During a maximum follow-up period of 7 years, 38 patients who underwent weight loss surgery were diagnosed with T2DM, compared with 177 of patients who did not have surgery. At the end of the 7-year follow-up, 4.3% of surgery patients and 16.2% of matched controls had developed T2DM. The incidence of T2DM diagnosis was 28.2 per 1000 person-years among controls and just 5.7 per 1000 person-years among surgery patients. After adjusting for comorbidity, cardiovascular risk factors, and the use of antihypertensive and lipid-lowering drugs, the hazard ratio for T2DM after weight-loss surgery was 0.2.