Weight-loss surgery may cut heart disease risk among adolescents

New York: Bariatric surgery may minimise the risk of heart diseases in adolescents who went through the procedure, claimed new research.

The findings showed that bariatric or weight-loss surgery performed during adolescence may provide unique benefits later in life by minimising the development and progression of impaired glucose metabolism, atherosclerosis heart failure, and stroke.

"This is the first large-scale analysis of predictors of change in cardiovascular disease risk factors among adolescents following bariatric surgery," said Marc P Michalsky, Professor at the Ohio State University College in the US.

The study, published in the online journal Pediatrics, was conducted over 242 adolescents who were diagnosed with heart risk factors at the baseline. 

The results found that prior to the bariatric surgery, 33 percent of the participants had three or more defined cardiovascular disease risk factors. 

However, three years post-surgery, only 5 percent of study participants had three or more risk factors; representing a significant reduction in the overall likelihood of developing cardiovascular disease later in life. 

"The study demonstrated early improvement and reduction of cardio-metabolic risk factors, offering compelling support for bariatric surgery in adolescents," Michalsky added.

Not only weight loss, the surgery also reduced dyslipidemia risk among teenagers -- a condition marked by an abnormally increased level of cholesterol present in the blood, when compared to the older people.