New study shows the effect of bariatric surgery on diabetes patients

A new American study provides increased knowledge on that obesity surgery, in addition to long term weight loss, also have effect on type 2 diabetes.

The American study that was published in the medical journal ”Archives of Surgery” in August 2010 shows that bariatric surgery has positive effects on patients with type 2 diabetes. 2,235 adult patients with a type 2 diabetes diagnosis that underwent some type of bariatric surgery between 2002 and 2005 were studied. The conclusion is that bariatric surgery results in a significant decrease in the need of diabetes medication, such as insulin and metformin, and in most cases in a complete elimination of diabetes medication. It was shown that 75% of the patients six months after surgery no longer needed any medication and one year after surgery this number had increased to 81%. Two years after surgery the corresponding figure was 85%. As a comparison, only 14% of the patients did not use any diabetes medication prior to surgery.

The study suggests that those patients that have undergone a gastric bypass procedure, one type of bariatric surgery, have a stronger tendency of being able to stop medicate after surgery than patients who have undergone other bariatric surgery procedures. Similarly, it seems like men and younger patients have a stronger tendency of being able to stop there diabetes medication after surgery.

The study also concludes that bariatric surgery on patients with type 2 diabetes results in reductions in overall health care costs. Compared to before surgery, the costs were increased by 9.7% the year after surgery, but subsequently decreased by 34.2% respectively 70.5% one respectively two years after surgery.

Read abstract from the article: Link to Archives of Surgery's website

Read more and listen to the news feature at the Swedish radio channel "Sveriges Radio, Ekot" : Link to "Sveriges Radio's" website (in Swedish)