Approved Research

An examination of cardiometabolic risk and event rates in individuals who have undergone bariatric surgery

Lay summary

Obesity in industrialized nations is a deepening health crisis. Among the many strategies that have been developed to address it, weight loss surgery remains one of the most effective tools for sustained weight loss-particularly for those with severe obesity. Bariatric surgery (BarS) causes considerable weight loss, and patients have been shown to lose over 60% in excess bodyweight and 30% in total bodyweight depending on age, sex, and patient health. In addition, improvements in heart and metabolic health are typical. Following surgery, patients have been shown to have normal or reduced blood sugar, cholesterol levels, and blood pressure. Despite the evidence that BarS improves health outcomes over the short-term, few studies have examined long-term outcomes such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and mortality. In addition, there are few studies that have looked at what lifestyle factors, like diet, contribute to better outcomes in over the long-term. Finally, some researchers have proposed that, even when an individual does not lose a lot of weight following BarS, there will still be improvements in blood sugar and cholesterol.  Altogether, more research is needed to examine the health outcomes of BarS over time.

The proposed research will compare health outcomes between UK Biobank participants who have undergone a BarS procedure with two groups of study participants: those who have not undergone one of these surgeries but are of the same age, sex, race/ethnicity and 1) have the same BMI (bodyweight in kg/height in meters2) as those who had a BarS procedure prior to their surgery; and 2) have the same BMI as those who had a BarS procedure after their weight loss surgery. We aim to examine whether there are health benefits to BarS that depend on the weight loss that is obtained (by comparing BarS patients with group 1) and there are health benefits to BarS that are independent of the weight loss that is obtained (by comparing BarS patients with group 2). Finally, the research aims to determine the lifestyle and other factors that contribute to better and worse health outcomes following BarS over the long-term.

This research is part of a grant application to the National Institutes of Health, and will be conducted over the course of four years. This research will describe the health outcomes of BarS patients and the lifestyle factors that lead to better or worse outcomes.