Posts Tagged ‘bariatric surgery’

More Than Weight Loss: Bariatric Surgery and Diabetes

December 10, 2021 — A new study revives an old question. Isn’t the benefit of bariatric surgery for people with diabetes more than just weight loss? In the December issue of Diabetes Care, Blandine Laferrère and colleagues write: “Our data show the time course of changes in β-cell function after RYGB. The improvement in β-cell function after RYGB, but […]

Sleeve vs Bypass: Effect on Liver Fat

November 30, 2021 — Following closely on a landmark study of bariatric surgery and liver fat, today we have a new RCT comparing the effects of gastric sleeve and gastric bypass. In short, these two procedures work equally well. After one year, patients with both procedures had about a 20 percent reduction in liver fat. The other endpoint was […]

Is COVID a Spark for Growth in Obesity Care?

November 29, 2021 — We have plenty of reasons to think that COVID might be a spark for growth in obesity care. First of all, untreated obesity leaves a person more vulnerable to bad outcomes with COVID. More data is suggesting that effective obesity care might reduce those risks. And then we have anecdotal reports telling us that uptake […]

Gastric Bypass Results Over Time in Black and White

November 24, 2021 — New data this week in SOARD tells us once again that gastric bypass can produce impressive results over time for someone with severe obesity. After ten years, Su-Hsin Chang and colleagues found that their cohort of 1,104 patients had maintained an average 31 percent reduction in body weight. Best Results for White Women But it […]

Cutting NASH Harms by 88% with Bariatric Surgery

November 12, 2021 — NASH (non-alcoholic steatohepatitis) is one of the most serious complications of untreated obesity. It’s very hard to treat. It can lead to liver failure, liver cancer, and death. So when a careful study of bariatric surgery shows an an 88 percent reduction in the risk of NASH progressing, this is big news. JAMA published this […]

OW2021: The Equity Problem in Obesity and Healthcare

November 5, 2021 — We have an equity problem – in healthcare generally and in obesity specifically. Diversity, equity, and inclusion have been a key theme running through ObesityWeek® and thus, there’s plenty of content on this subject to absorb from the meeting. We’re just barely beginning to take it all in. But in a nutshell, serious obesity care […]

Did Medicaid Expansion Help with Bariatric Surgery?

October 16, 2021 — A decade ago, Medicaid expansion was supposed to be a real winner for better access to care. It was a sweet deal for states adopting it. Yet our polarized politics have meant that even now, after a decade, some states are still dragging their feet. That leaves two million people from 12 states in limbo […]

Bringing Clarity to the Safety of a Gastric Sleeve

October 7, 2021 — Well-controlled data for surgical procedures is hard to come by. This is especially true for bariatric surgery, where strong feelings come into play and thus, people aren’t willing to accept random assignments to a surgical procedure. So a new study in JAMA Surgery that gives us clarity about the safety of gastric sleeve operations is […]

Higher Mortality for Men After Bariatric Surgery?

October 5, 2021 — Bariatric surgery is a relatively safe surgical procedure. Overall, people with obesity who undergo bariatric surgery tend to live longer than those who don’t. Nonetheless, just as with any surgery, complications can occur. Recent data from the MBSAQIP database document a 30-day mortality rate between one and two deaths per thousand patients. New data, presented […]

Bariatric Surgery in Children as Well as Teens

September 29, 2021 — As severe obesity has grown to take a toll on a growing number of children and teens, clinical care is evolving. In 2019, the American Academy of Pediatrics said it plainly. Youth with severe obesity need better access to bariatric surgery. The authors of that position statement conceded that most of the young patients for […]