Bariatric surgery lowers risk of cancer, related death

Bariatric surgery lowers risk of cancer, related death


Obesity is second only to tobacco use as a preventable cause of cancer in the United States.

And it boosts the risk of 13 types of cancer that make up 40% of all cancers diagnosed each year in the U.S.

Now, there is good news.

A Cleveland Clinic study finds that adults who lose weight loss by undergoing bariatric surgery have a 32% lower risk of developing cancer and a 48% lower risk of cancer-related death, compared with those who don’t have the operation.

The study included some 30,000 patients. About 5,000 adult patients with obesity who had bariatric surgery between 2004 and 2017 were matched to a control group of about 25,000 patients with obesity who didn’t have surgery.

After 10 years, 2.9% of the bariatric surgery patients and 4.9% of the no-surgery patients developed an obesity-related cancer.

Also in that time span, 0.8% of patients who had surgery and 1.4% of patients who didn’t died from cancer.

That means bariatric surgery is associated with a 48% lower risk of dying from cancer.

Bariatric surgery is currently the most effective treatment for obesity. Patients can lose between 20% and 40% of their body weight and the weight loss can be sustained for decades.

The benefits of bariatric surgery were seen in a wide range of study participants, including women and men, young and old, and Black and white patients. The benefits were also seen in those who had gastric bypass or gastric sleeve procedures.

Roughly 42% of American adults have obesity, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

So, if you or a loved one is contemplating bariatric surgery, it’s nice to know that it lessens cancer risk. Unlike, seemingly, everything else under the sun.

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