A 10-year study has shown bariatric surgery is effective in lowering a person’s weight by up to 34 percent and reducing the need for diabetes medications.
A Monash University and University of Sydney-led study analysed data collected from 122, 567 people who had the surgery in Australia from early 2012 until the end 2021.
Monash University’s Professor Wendy Brown said five years post-surgery, those who underwent one-anastomosis gastric bypass had total body weight loss of 34.88 percent, those who underwent roux-en-Y gastric bypass lost 30.73 percent, those who had sleeve gastrectomy lost 26.5 percent and those with adjustable gastric bands lost 17.6 percent.
Professor Brown said of the participants, 13.6 percent reported being treated for diabetes before surgery.
She said of those followed up, 71.6 percent required no diabetes medication after 12 months, with the figure 61 percent after five years.
“Ninety days post-surgery, 3.6 percent of patients had experienced adverse events such as unplanned readmission, intensive care admission, re-operation or death.
“This meant the surgery was considered safe, with similar adverse event rates to other keyhole surgery such as gallbladder removal.”
Professor Brown said this was the first community-level data analysis showing that bariatric surgery was safe, confirming findings from single centres and other trials.
“This should reassure patients, their loved ones and payers such as government and insurers that bariatric surgery is safe, effective and delivers great health improvement,” Professor Brown said.
“It will also help to inform more accurate patient consent, so patients have an idea of what they can realistically expect to achieve after an operation and what the risks are.”
Read the full study: Metabolic bariatric surgery generates substantial, sustained weight loss and health improvement in a real-world setting.
