Sweden: A recent study in the journal Diabetes Care reports that in patients with obesity and diabetes, bariatric surgery prevents cancer. Also, durable diabetes remission was shown to be associated with reduced cancer risk.
Type 2 diabetes and obesity are related to serious adverse health effects, including cancer. Although bariatric surgery has been shown to lessen cancer risk in obese patients, the effect of bariatric surgery on cancer risk in patients with diabetes and obesity is not much studied. Kajsa Sjöholm, Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden, and colleagues examined the long-term incidence of cancer after bariatric surgery and usual care in patients with obesity and diabetes in the matched prospective Swedish Obese Subjects (SOS) study.
The SOS study examines long-term outcomes after bariatric surgery or usual care. This analysis included 701 patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes at baseline, 393 underwent bariatric surgery and 308 received conventional obesity treatment. Using the Swedish National Cancer Register, information on cancer events was obtained. The Median follow-up time was 21.3 years.
Based on the study, the researchers found the following:
During follow-up, the incidence rate for first-time cancer was 9.1 per 1,000 person-years in patients with obesity and diabetes treated with bariatric surgery and 14.1 per 1,000 person-years in patients treated with usual obesity care (adjusted hazard ratio 0.63).
Surgery was associated with reduced cancer incidence in women (0.58), although the sex-treatment interaction was nonsignificant.
Diabetes remission at the 10-year follow-up was associated with reduced cancer incidence (0.40).
The researchers concluded, "these results suggest that bariatric surgery prevents cancer in patients with obesity and diabetes and that durable diabetes remission is associated with reduced cancer risk."
Reference:
Association of Bariatric Surgery With Cancer Incidence in Patients With Obesity and Diabetes: Long-Term Results From the Swedish Obese Subjects Study. Kajsa Sjöholm, Lena M.S. Carlsson, Per-Arne Svensson, Johanna C. Andersson-Assarsson, Felipe Kristensson, Peter Jacobson, Markku Peltonen, Magdalena Taube. Diabetes Care Nov 2021, dc211335; DOI: 10.2337/dc21-1335