Bariatric surgery reduces the long-term risk of heart attack and stroke as well as the risk of dying from them

Bariatric surgery reduces the long-term risk of heart attack and stroke as well as the risk of dying from them, a prospective nonrandomized study showed.During a median 14.7 years of follow-up, any bariatric procedure cut risk of a first fatal or nonfatal event by 33% compared with no bariatric surgery for obese individuals after adjusting for other factors (P<0.001), Lars Sj?str?m, MD, PhD, cheap Toms shoes sale online of Sahlgrenska University Hospital in Gothenburg, Sweden, and colleagues found.Cardiovascular deaths dropped by a relative 53% after bariatric surgery compared with no surgery (P=0.002), the group reported in the Jan. 4 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association.These observational results from the Swedish Obese Subjects study are the first to show reduced incidence of cardiovascular deaths and events, the group pointed out, although these results were independent of baseline BMI or amount of weight lost.Such benefits have been expected, but lifestyle and pharmaceutical interventions haven't prevented cardiovascular events in prior studies Toms for cheap even with up to 20 years of follow-up.And although the epidemiologic evidence hasn't suggested any mortality benefit to weight loss overall (perhaps because of confounding from unintentional loss, such as with illness), a prior analysis of their Swedish Obese Subjects study did find a survival advantage to bariatric surgery, Sj?str?m's group noted.However, while the relative benefits of bariatric surgery looked good, the absolute benefits weren't impressive, commented Edward H. Livingston, MD, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, and a JAMA contributing editor.