Bariatric surgery in obese patients may lower cancer risk

(HealthDay)—For patients with obesity, undergoing bariatric surgery is associated with a significantly reduced risk for cancer overall and a lower rate of breast malignancy among those with a genetic predisposition to breast cancer, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery and The Obesity Society (ObesityWeek), held from Nov. 3 to 7 in Las Vegas.

Camila Ortiz Gomez, M.D., from the Cleveland Clinic Florida in Weston, and colleagues examined the impact of bariatric surgery in cancer prevention in patients with obesity using data from 1,670,035 patients from the National Inpatient Sample for 2010 to 2014. Of these patients, 246,668 cases underwent bariatric surgery and 1,423,367 controls had a body mass index (BMI) of ≥35 kg/m² and did not undergo bariatric surgery.

The researchers found that the likelihood of experiencing cancer was increased for patients with BMI ≥35 kg/m² who did not undergo bariatric surgery compared with cases who did undergo bariatric surgery (adjusted odds ratio, 1.21; unadjusted odds ratio, 1.35; P < 0.0001 for both). Among patients with a genetic predisposition to breast cancer, controls had an increased rate of breast malignancy compared with cases (18.0 versus 7.4 percent; P = 0.0991).

"The effect we saw on patients genetically predisposed to developing breast cancer was remarkable and we believe this is the first time a study has shown such an impact," a coauthor said in a statement.

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