Gastric Bypass Lowers Heart Attack, Stroke Risk in Patients with Diabetes

Patients with diabetes and obesity who undergo bypass surgery reduce their heart attack and stroke risk.

Researchers from Cleveland Clinic claim that patients with diabetes and obesity who undergo a bypass surgery, experience a 40 percent lower risk of heart attacks and 42 percent lower risk of stroke. The research was presented at the 30th Annual Meeting for the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) during Obesity Week 2013.

The study was based on data from 131 patients with diabetes and obesity. The data was obtained over a period of six years after a gastric bypass surgery. The researchers noticed that the five year risk of death from cardiovascular disease was lower by 18 percent also there was a 45 percent lower risk of developing moderate to severe kidney disease. Also these patients were less likely to suffer from the risk of poor circulation called intermittent claudication.

"This study emphasizes that gastric bypass dramatically changes the trajectory of many chronic diseases associated with diabetes and improves multiple cardiovascular risk factors in the long term," said study co-author Stacy A. Brethauer, MD, Staff Physician in the Section of Laparoscopic and Bariatric Surgery at Cleveland Clinic, according to a news release.

The researchers determined the patients risk for coronary heart disease, stroke, heart attack and peripheral vascular disease (PVD) through risk assessment models.

The average patient in the study suffered with type-2 diabetes for more than six years before undergoing the surgery. Within the next 10 years the risk for heart disease and PVD dropped by 10 percent.