Obesity surgery prevents severe chronic kidney disease and kidney failure

Patients that underwent weight-loss surgery ran a significantly lower risk of developing severe chronic kidney disease and kidney failure when compared to conventionally treated patients, according to a study published in International Journal of Obesity.

Obesity is a dangerous condition accompanied by elevated blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes, which in turn may lead to complications such as chronic kidney disease. It is also an independent risk factor in developing chronic kidney disease. Different obesity treatment strategies include lifestyle interventions, dietary modification, pharmacological and surgical treatment.

Many recent studies of patients with obesity have shown that weight-loss (bariatric) surgery is currently the most efficient way to achieve and maintain significant long-term weight loss and prevent obesity-related complications such as type 2 diabetes. In the Swedish Obese Subjects (SOS) study conducted by Sahlgrenska Academy, researchers followed over 4000 patients with obesity for more than 20 years. Half of the patients received weight-loss surgery, and the other half were treated with conventional non-surgical methods through primary health care.

The SOS researchers published their data in the International Journal of Obesity, reporting the incidence of advanced chronic kidney disease among patients in the SOS study. The results demonstrate that the patients that underwent weight-loss surgery ran a significantly lower risk of developing severe chronic kidney disease and kidney failure when compared to conventionally treated patients.

Patients with evidence of kidney damage (high levels of protein in the urine) at the start of the study benefited most from surgical treatment, indicating that surgery prevents progression of pre-existing kidney injury towards renal failure. This complements previous reports from the SOS group that showed that bariatric surgery prevented new onset kidney injury.

These kidney-specific findings add to a large body of evidence from the SOS study demonstrating that bariatric surgery reduces mortality, improves type 2 diabetes and prevents cardiovascular disease and cancer.