Back to Square One after Bariatric Surgery within 5 Years

Although gastric bypass surgery reverses type 2 diabetes in a large percentage of obese patients, the disease recurs in about 21% of them within three to five years. The study’s lead author, Yessica Ramos, MD, an internal medicine resident at Mayo Clinic Arizona in Scottsdale, stated that, “The recurrence rate was mainly influenced by a longstanding history of type 2 diabetes before the surgery.” “This suggests that early surgical intervention in the obese, diabetic population will improve the durability of remission of type 2 diabetes.” Study patients with more than a five-year duration of type 2 diabetes before they had bariatric surgery were 3.8 times more likely to have recurrence of type 2 diabetes compared to patients with less than a 5 year history of diabetes. “Providers and patients need to be aware of this information, to have a better idea of the expected outcome and be able to make an informed decision about pursuing gastric bypass surgery,” Ramos said. Study results presented at The Endocrine Society’s 94th Annual Meeting in Houston, June 2012.