Weight loss surgery reduces the risk of cancer in obese people, a new study shows.
In bariatric surgery, a part of the patient's stomach is reduced to a small pouch attached directly to the small intestine. This is done in assure long-term weight-loss and also to reduce chances of premature deaths due to severe obesity.
For the study, the researchers analyzed 13 studies that concentrated on the incidences of cancer in patients after bariatric surgery. The studies contained the information of 54,257 participants.
Statistics show that cancer rates in obese people are as high as 2.12 cases per 1,000 person-years.
This study analysis showed that bariatric surgery reduced the risk of cancer among severely obese patients. According to the study, cancer occurred in just 1.06 cases per 1,000 person-years, up to 23 years after the surgery was performed.
Researchers did not explain whether the reduced cancer rates after bariatric surgery were due to the metabolic changes associated with weight loss, or if lower body mass indices (BMIs) following surgery result in earlier diagnosis and improved cancer treatment outcomes among patients.
"Bariatric surgery is associated with reduced cancer risk in morbidly obese people," said lead researcher Daniela Casagrande of the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil.
She, however, warned that the results of the study should be drawn with care as there was high heterogeneity among the studies. She also said that the research had certain limitations about the data available among the studies, and that variables associated with cancer should still be measured in prospective bariatric surgery trials.
The study was published in the journal Obesity Surgery.
