Effects of weight loss induced by bariatric surgery on the prevalence of metabolic syndrome

Abstract

Background: Metabolic Syndrome (MS) is often linked to overweight/obesity and can improve after weight loss, such improvement is expected to be proportional to the intensity of weight loss.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of weight loss induced by bariatric surgery (BS) on the prevalence of MS in a middle-term period.

Methods: Thirty-five (35) patients who underwent surgical Roux's Y gastrojejunal by-pass from October 2001 until October 2005 in our University Hospital were evaluated. 88.5% were female, with a mean age at the time of surgery of 37.8+/-11.1 years and a mean BMI of 45.0+/-6.2 Kg/m(2). During the first stage of our study demographic and clinical-anthropomorphic data were collected prior to the BC procedure, including those criteria needed for the diagnosis of MS, according to the guidelines of the US NCEP. The second stage consisted of reevaluation of those patients in the post-surgical period in order to determine the prevalence of MS in an outpatient setting.

Results: Prior to surgery, MS was diagnosed in 27 patients (77.1%). When those patients were reevaluated 34.4+/-15 months after surgery, a reduction of mean BMI to 28.3+/-5.0 Kg/m(2) and MS was identified in only two patients (5.7%) (p<0.001). Prevalence of individual criteria such as abdominal circumference, fasting glucose levels, arterial blood pressure, HDL-cholesterol and triglycerides had a reduction of 45.8%, 83%, 87.5%, 57.13% and 94% respectively.

Conclusion: MS is a rather common feature in obese patients enrolled for BS and this procedure has been proved to be extremely efficient reversing the metabolic syndrome, with an expressive reduction of prevalence of each and all of the NCEP criteria.