Risk of Heart Attack Cut by Weight-Loss Surgery

Bariatric surgery, which is used to help the severely obese lose weight, has been shown to dramatically reduce the rate of heart attacks and death among morbidly obese patients, according to a recent study.

The study, which was published in the International Journal of Cardiology, reviewed data from 14 studies on patients who underwent bariatric surgery. The data from more than 29,000 patients who underwent weight-loss surgery was included in the analysis, alongside data from nearly 170,000 non-surgical controls.

Researchers from the University of East Anglia's (UEA) Norwich Medical School in England analyzed data on the combined study participants that was taken over a course of two to 14 years after undergoing bariatric surgery -- looking particularly for reports of heart attack, stroke, or the development of cardiovascular disease (CVD).

What the research team found was not surprising, but striking all the same. The surgery appeared to lower the risk of having a heart attack or stroke among at-risk patients by almost 50 percent, compared to obese participants who did no undergo the surgery.

The analysis also showed a 40 percent reduction in overall death rates of patients who had underwent the surgery, compared to the non-surgical control group.

The National Health service has previously reported that obesity effects one in four people in the United Kingdom, and hospitalized nearly 12,000 people between 2011 and 2012. According to the study's senior author, Dr. Yoon Loke, it's about time that the severely obese in the U.K. start to consider bariatric surgery as a potentially life-saving procedure.

"These findings suggest that surgery should be seriously considered in obese patients who have a high risk of heart disease," Loke said in a UEA press release. "This is the right time for a large, high-quality trial of bariatric surgery in the NHS to confirm the potential benefits."

The study was initially published online in the International Journal of Cardiology on March 13.