A study published the other day, on October 30, clearly proves that teenagers who underwent surgery to treat their severe obesity are still benefiting from the intervention ten years later. They found that most of them maintained their significantly reduced weight while still avoiding the disadvantages of obesity, such as type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure.
There are even newer GLP-1 drugs such as semaglutideeven after Ozempic and Wegovy, which have become famous today, bariatric surgery is considered the most effective treatment for obesity: patients with action lose up to 30% of their starting weight. But the previous studies have focused more on adults, so the new results from the longitudinal study on teenagers are even more interesting.
A Twelve LABs Research (Longitudinal Evaluation of Bariatric Surgery) began in 2003 and is funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK). During the project
researchers looked at the health of thousands of teenagers who underwent surgery for severe obesity sometime between 2005 and 2009.
The latest, in the New England Journal of Medicine posted last wednesday in a follow-up study, the weight and health outcomes of 260 patients were examined ten years after the surgery – no such study has yet been conducted.
“This is the longest follow-up study of adolescent bariatric surgery, with previous studies running up to 5 years,” said lead study investigator Justin Ryder, vice chair of research in the Department of Surgery at Ann Children’s Hospital. & Robert H. Lurie of Chicago, to Gizmodo.
We can say that obesity treatment with surgical methods in adolescents has very good long-term results.
Overall, the patients achieved an average weight loss of 20%, the researchers found. Most of those diagnosed still show no symptoms of type 2 diabetes. High blood pressure and high cholesterol were permanently reduced.
