Bariatric surgery and other treatments that cause substantial weight loss can significantly reduce the risk of heart failure in obese patients, according to preliminary research presented at the American Heart Association’s (AHA) Scientific Sessions 2016.
Researchers compared 25,804 bariatric surgery patients in a Scandinavian obesity surgery registry to 13,701 Swedish nationwide registry patients who used an intensive structured lifestyle-modification program. Both groups had no history of heart failure before starting treatment and body mass indices greater than 30 and weighed on average 119 kilograms/262.35 pounds before treatment.