It was another busy month reporting the latest bariatric and metabolic, and obesity-related disease news. We hope we have brought you the latest and most interesting news as it happened. Here are the Top 10 most read articles on Bariatric News in February 2023.
Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) is the procedure of choice for patients presenting for bariatric surgery in the presence of gastroesophageal reflux disorder (GERD), erosive esophagitis (EE) and Barrett's esophagus (BE), providing there are no competing contraindications (active smoking, dependence on regular non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, complex abdominal wall hernia(s), active inflammatory bowel disease etc), according to researchers from McGill University, Montreal, QC, Canada.
Bariatric surgery is associated with a statistically significant risk reduction of coronary artery disease (CAD), myocardial infarction (MI), heart failure (HF) and cerebrovascular accident (CVA), according to findings from a systematic review and meta-analysis by researchers from in New York. The findings were featured in the paper, 'The Effects of Bariatric Surgery on Cardiovascular Outcomes and Cardiovascular Mortality: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis', published in Cureus.
An analysis from the Swedish Obese Subjects (SOS) study has reported that bariatric surgery did not normalise the increased risk of knee and hip osteoarthritis in patients with obesity but was associated with an increased incidence of knee arthroplasty, compared to the control group. The paper, ‘Bariatric surgery, osteoarthritis and arthroplasty of the hip and knee in Swedish Obese Subjects – up to 31 years follow-up of a controlled intervention study’, was published in the journal, Osteoarthritis and Cartilage.
The quality of care transition after bariatric surgery can impact weight gain as well as patient safety and hospitals need to design effective and patient-centred discharge processes to meet patient requirements and promote compliance according to German researchers. They found that adverse patient safety incidents are reduced after high quality care transitions indicating both high quality of health services for patients and reducing costs for the health care system.
Recent results from clinical trials and studies assessing anti-obesity medications, in addition regulatory approvals, has resulted in increased patients interest demand. Whilst there is little doubt that the results are encouraging and certainly warrant further investigation, indeed this latest generation of for anti-obesity medications may have a significant role ion pre- and post-bariatric surgery patients. However, access to these medications has proven to be problematic, most notably due to the costs involved. Study by led by researches from Royal Free Hospital NHS Trust, London, UK, “Estimated minimum prices and lowest available national prices for antiobesity medications: Improving affordability and access to treatment”, published in the journal Obesity, has concluded that certain weight loss treatments can be manufactured and sold profitably at low costs, but prices currently range widely between countries, limiting access for those in need.
Total pre-operative telemedicine in bariatric surgery is associated with non-inferior clinical outcomes and hospital utilisation compared with traditional, in-person patient care, according to investigators led by a team from the University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA.
A study of active-duty military personnel in Canada, who underwent bariatric surgery, has found that surgery was safe, effective and improved deployability without impairing military careers. The study authors from the Royal Canadian Medical Services, Canadian Armed Forces, Ottawa and Laval University, Québec City, Canada, concluded that the results were relevant to the military of many industrialised countries. The outcomes were reported in the paper, ‘Bariatric Surgery Should Be Offered to Active-Duty Military Personnel: a Retrospective Study of the Canadian Armed Forces’ Experience’, published in Obesity Surgery.
The current data on metabolic and bariatric surgery (MBS) in patients with Prader-Willi Syndrome (PWS) reveal that laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG), gastric bypass (GB) and biliopancreatic diversion (BPD, with or without with duodenal switch (DS)) provide rapid weight loss safely and alter the natural progression of weight gain seen in patients with PWS. The findings were reported in the paper, ‘Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery for Obesity in Prader Willi Syndrome: Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis’, published in SOARD, by researchers from Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA.
Outpatient bariatric surgery supported with telemonitoring is clinically comparable to standard overnight bariatrics in terms of textbook-outcome and offering same-day discharge reduces the total hospitalisation days while maintaining patient satisfaction and safety, according to the outcomes from a randomised clinical trial by researchers from The Netherlands.
Post-bariatric women seem to have similar or greater gestational weight gain (GWG) vs women without surgery matched for early-pregnancy or pre-surgery BMI, respectively, according to researchers from Imperial College London, UK. However, they also found that that for surgical patients, GWG does not seem to be associated with birth weight (BW) or the higher prevalence of small-for-gestational-age (SGA) neonates.