Bariatric surgery lowers microvascular disease risk

(HealthDay)—Bariatric surgery is tied to lower overall incidence of microvascular disease in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), according to a study published online Aug. 7 in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

Rebecca O'Brien, M.D., from Kaiser Permanente Northern California in Oakland, and colleagues assessed the relationship between bariatric surgery and incident microvascular complications among 4,024 patients (aged 19 to 79 years) with T2DM who had bariatric surgery. Cases were matched (3:1) according to age, sex, body mass index, hemoglobin A1c level, insulin use, diabetes duration, and intensity of health care use to 11,059 non-surgical participants.

The researchers found that over a median 4.3 years of follow-up, bariatric surgery was associated with significantly lower risk for incident microvascular disease at five years (adjusted hazard ratio [aHR], 0.41). Also at five years, there was a lower cumulative incidence of diabetic neuropathy (aHR, 0.37), nephropathy (aHR, 0.41), and retinopathy (aHR, 0.55) associated with bariatric surgery.

"In this large, multicenter study of adults with T2DM, bariatric surgery was associated with lower overall incidence of microvascular disease (including lower risk for neuropathy, nephropathy, and retinopathy) than usual care," the authors write.