Conference 2021 Poster Presentation

 

Project title

Is bariatric surgery an effective method of reducing the risk of cancer in those who are obese?

 

Authors and Affiliations

Nidhi Sharma1

1. Department of Medicine, University of Dundee, Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, UK

 

Abstract

Background

Obesity is a growing concern in the modern world and has now been recognised as the second most common risk factor for developing 13 types of cancers. Morbidity obesity is associated with life threating conditions, in such severe cases the treatment approach to weight loss is bariatric surgery following the strict guidelines in the UK. The purpose of this study is to assess clinical evidence on the effectiveness of bariatric surgery for reducing the risk of cancer in those who are obese.

Methods

Ten population-based cohort studies were analysed using criterion to provide evidence to the objective. The comparison is between obese patients undergone bariatric surgery and control group offered conservative treatment – behaviour modification therapy, lifestyle interventions or no treatment. To refine search results, the most recent papers were identified – meta-analysis (March 2019). The analysis references were manually searched to identify the most relevant studies to be included. The oldest study in meta-analysis was published in 2007, thus the cut-off year was set. Criteria to select additional papers included outcome measurements as relative risk of cancer (%) or the incidence of cancer (number of patients in each group). Exclusion criteria included foreign language papers, small sized population studies and patients with cancer history.

Results

Overall risk of developing cancer is significantly lower in patients who have undergone bariatric surgery compared to control patients. Obesity related cancers such as breast prostate, endometrium, kidney and oesophageal were significantly decreased in bariatric surgery patients compared to control group. Weight loss following bariatric surgery has been linked to reducing cancer in post-menopausal women. Mixed results were found on the association of colorectal cancer incidence in obese patients undergone bariatric surgery.

Conclusions

Bariatric surgery has decreased overall incidence of cancer, especially obesity-related cancer in obese patients. Women are more beneficial of surgery than men especially in terms of reducing hormone-related cancers (breast). Further investigations are required to understand the risk of colorectal cancer in patients undergone different types of bariatric surgery. Lastly, it would be recommended to keep a continuous follow-up to identify life-long incidence for cancer in post-surgery patients as various cancers take years to develop.

 


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