Study: Weight-Loss Surgery Effective for Type 2 Diabetes

Bariatric surgery paired with 2 years of low-level lifestyle intervention yielded better health outcomes for obese patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) compared to only lifestyle interventions, according to recent research.

“It remains to be established whether bariatric surgery is a durable and effective treatment for type 2 diabetes and how bariatric surgery compares with intensive lifestyle modification and medication management with respect to T2DM-related outcomes,” explained the authors of the study.
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For the 3-arm, randomized clinical trial, researchers examined outcomes for 61 obese patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus, aged 25 to 55 years. The study was conducted from October 1, 2009 to June 26, 2014 at the University of Pittsburg Medical Center.

Participants were either randomized to a one-year intensive lifestyle, weight-loss intervention preceding a 2-year low-level lifestyle intervention, or to a surgical treatment (including Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) or laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB)) followed by a 2 to 3 year low-level lifestyle intervention.

Overall, researchers found bariatric surgery to be the most effective method of weight loss for study participants, with those undergoing RYGB losing 25% of their body weight at 3 years, LAGB participants losing 15%, and lifestyle participants losing 5.7%.

“Partial or complete T2DM remission was achieved by 40% (n = 8) of RYGB, 29% (n = 6) of LAGB, and no intensive lifestyle weight loss intervention participants (P = .004).” said the study’s authors.

“Thus, these results add to a growing body of literature suggesting that bariatric surgery may be a viable treatment option for people with BMI of 30 to 40 for whom medical management is ineffective,” they concluded.

The complete study published in the July issue of JAMA Surgery.

-Michelle Canales Butcher

Reference:
Courcoulas AP, Belle SH, Neiberg RH, et al. Three-year outcomes of bariatric surgery vs lifestyle intervention for type 2 diabetes mellitus treatment: a randomized clinical trial. JAMA Surg. 2015 July [epub ahead of print] doi:10.1001/jamasurg.2015.1534.