Bariatric Surgery

Bariatric surgery for weight loss was associated with improvements in blood pressure and antihypertensive use among patients with obesity compared with medical therapy and/or lifestyle management, a speaker reported.

Bariatric surgery did not reduce risk for obesity-related cancer or cardiovascular disease compared with nonoperative treatment among adults aged at least 60 years, according to results of a population-based cohort study.

Obesity accounts for much of the risk for primary hypertension, and a treatment plan that could address both issues could substantially reduce a person’s underlying risk for cardiovascular disease and other complications.

Both obesity pharmacotherapy and bariatric surgery offer paths to substantial weight loss for people who struggle with excess weight, and new data suggest there is also an additional bonus benefit for many — a sustained reduction in blood pressure.

Patients with severe obesity undergoing Roux-en-Y gastric bypass for weight loss demonstrated greater reductions in blood lipids at 6 weeks vs. those on a very low-energy diet, according to study results in JAMA Surgery.

The disease of obesity often brings cardiometabolic consequences, including hypertension, which remains the most potent and predictive risk factor for cardiovascular disease.

In a single-center cohort of patients with heart failure and obesity, weight-loss surgery led to improved clinical outcomes including reduced BMI and HbA1c and less reliance on diuretics, researchers reported.