In the paper published on Wednesday in JAMA surgery, the researchers added that among obese people with type 2 diabetes, bariatric surgery in conjunction with a 2 year low level lifestyle intervention lead to enhanced disease remission than a mere lifestyle intervention.
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Several years ago, researchers at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center recruited 61 type 2 diabetes patients to participate in a treatment study.
“This study provides further important evidence that at longer-term follow-up of 3 years, surgical treatments, including RYGB and LAGB, are superior to lifestyle intervention alone for the remission of [type 2 diabetes] in obese individuals including those with a BMI between 30 and 35”, they wrote.
People who suffer from type 2 diabetes should get off the treadmill and into the surgery room – that’s according to a new study that is offering some surprising solutions to those who have the disease.
T2DM remission was achieved by 40% of the RYGB patients (n=8), 29% of the LAGB patients (n=6), and none of the lifestyle intervention patients (P=0.004).
These results are considered as the “gold standard” of medical research.
A major limitation of the study was its small sample size, drawn from a single site, which may limit the generalizability of the results, the authors noted.
Additionally, the patients in the surgical groups lost more weight compared to participants in the nonsurgical group, who reportedly lost just under 6 percent of their initial weight.
The greatest change in HbA1c (-1.42%) and fasting plasma glucose (-66 mg/dL) from baseline to 3 years was found among the RYGB group compared with the LAGB group and lifestyle intervention only group.
Dr. Joel Zonszein, director of the clinical diabetes center at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City, said that after these procedures patients see their diabetes go away, but over time it is likely to return. This means that not all patients would qualify for these surgical interventions.
They also want to learn how remission rates look like after five to seven years in their two study groups.
Weight loss (bariatric) surgery includes a variety of procedures performed on obese patients.
Courcoulas and her colleagues studies two groups of diabetes patients.
Disclosure: Courcoulas reports receiving research grants or project consultant work from Covidien, J&J Ethicon and Nutrisystem, and is a project consultant for Apollo Endosurgery and Ethicon.
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Michael Gagner reported financial relationships with Ethicon, Covidien, Gore, MID, Olympus, Boehringer Labs, and Transenterix.
