Association between bariatric surgery and diabetes treatment

Editor's Note

In this nationwide French study, bariatric surgery was associated with a significantly higher 6-year postoperative diabetes treatment discontinuation rate, compared with baseline and a control group who did not have bariatric surgery.

Of more than 30,000 patients included in the study, the treatment discontinuation rate was 49.9% for surgery patients versus 9.0% for controls. For patients without treatment at baseline, the 6-year diabetes treatment initiation rate was much lower after bariatric surgery than controls (1.4% vs 12.0%).

However, the authors say, patients and physicians should be aware that morbid obesity remains a chronic disease even after bariatric surgery because more than half (50.1%) of patients remained on diabetes treatment 6 years after surgery.

Question What are the rates of discontinuation or initiation of antidiabetes treatment 6 years after bariatric surgery? Findings In this nationwide population-based cohort study of more than 30 000 adults, bariatric surgery was associated with a significantly higher 6-year postoperative antidiabetes treatment discontinuation rate compared with an obese control group, as well as with a low antidiabetes treatment initiation rate, with gastric bypass being the most effective procedure.

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