How weight loss surgery will decrease heart disease risk

Obesity can result in heart disease risk, everyone is aware of it. However, these is new way to maintain the health of your heart. Weight loss surgery can decrease the risk of heart disease, a study says.

"This is the first large-scale analysis of predictors of change in cardiovascular disease risk factors among adolescents following bariatric surgery," said Marc P Michalsky, Professor at the Ohio State University College in the US.

Also read: 4 Ways to Beat the Risk of Heart Attack in your 30s

Findings

• Bariatric or weight-loss surgery performed during adolescence may provide unique benefits.
• It minimizes the development and progression of impaired glucose metabolism, atherosclerosis heart failure and stroke.
• Prior to the bariatric surgery, 33% of the participants had three or more defined cardiovascular disease risk factors.
• Three years post-surgery, only 5% of the study participants had three or more risk factors; representing significant reduction in the overall likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease later in life.
• Not only weight loss, the surgery also reduced dyslipidemia risk among teenager — a condition marked by an abnormally increased level of cholesterol in the blood, when compared to the older people.

Methodology

• The study was conducted on 242 adolescents who were diagnosed with hearth risk factors at the baseline.
• Among 242 participants of the study, 161 underwent Roux-en-Y gastric bypass procedure, 67 of them underwent a vertical sleeve gastrectomy and 14, adjustable gastric banding.
• The authors collected data from five participating medical centers for their observational study, and decisions about procedures depended on each center's clinical practices.
• The participants had a BMI between 34 to 88 when the study began. A BMI over 25 is considered overweight; over 30 is obese.

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Conclusion

• The obesity classification with the highest risks of health problems is a BMI of 40 or higher. Three years after surgery, teens who underwent a gastric bypass had a 27 percent drop in their BMI, similar to the 26 percent drop in those who had the sleeve gastrectomy. Those with the gastric band had an 8 percent drop in BMI.

"The study demonstrated early improvement and reduction of cardio-metabolic risk factors, offering compelling support for bariatric surgery in adolescents," Michalsky added.

The study was published in the online journal Pediatrics. (IANS)