As per the Teen Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery (Teen-LABS) study, published recently by Pediatrics, there is a significant reduction in heart diseases risk factors among the adolescents who had bariatric surgery. Around 33 percent of these teens had 3 or more significant cardiovascular risk factors, before the bariatric surgery. But, just 5 percent of them had 3 or more risk factors, three years after the surgery. This showed a significant decrease in the chances of developing any cardio-vascular diseases later in life. Teen- LABS is a multiple centered clinical study sponsored by National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) that is analyzing the health and safety effects of common surgical weight-loss procedures in the adolescent group. This clinical study is being conducted at 5 different clinical centers in the U.S. including Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Texas Children’s Hospital, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and University of Alabama at Birmingham. The study’s Chairman, Thomas H. Inge, PhD, is seated at Children’s Hospital Colorado in Denver.
Marc P. Michalsky, MD, is surgical director of the Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. He is also the lead author of the recent Teen-LABS publication.
The study revealed that adolescents might have reduced risk of developing cardiovascular diseases in future post a bariatric surgery. There were several other benefits of an early bariatric surgery including reduction in the risk of development and progression of an impaired glucose metabolism, heart failure, atherosclerosis and stroke.
Dr. Michalsky, who is also a professor of Clinical Surgery and Pediatrics at The Ohio State University College of Medicine, further added that this study was first large-scale predictors of decreased cardiovascular risk factors among teens post a bariatric surgery. Within a cohort of 242 adolescents, the recent publication from the study describes the global presence of the cardiovascular diseases risk factors. Blood pressure, lipids, inflammation and glucose homeostasis were measured as predictors of the prevalence of cardio-vascular risk factors. Three years after the bariatric surgery, the study revealed that reduced cardiovascular risk factors are not only associated with significant weight loss but also with body mass index (BMI) before the surgery, and sex, race and the age at the time of surgery.
There was a great decline in risk factors among females, people who had increased weight loss and who were younger at the time of surgery. Younger participants showed much resolved dyslipidemia than the older participants. Whereas, females had much reduction in elevated blood pressure than the males.
Dr. Michalsky did’nt expect any relationships between post-operative weight reduction and reduction in cardiovascular risk factors. Nevertheless, they learned that younger participants experienced normalization of C-reactive protein (CRP), an inflammation biomarker, and also dyslipidemia remission. These facts supported undergoing bariatric surgery in younger ages. This study gained further significance after considering the recent data published by the researchers at Yale University, which reveals the observed significant increase in cardiovascular risk factors among a large participant group of obese young participants (Class III and class IV) as compared to a less obese participant group.
