TUESDAY, March 31, 2020 (HealthDay News) — The presence of diabetes seems to diminish the weight loss effect of bariatric surgery among obese patients, according to a study presented at the virtual meeting of The Endocrine Society, held from March 28 to 31.

Yingying Luo, M.D., from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and colleagues examined the possible impact of diabetes on the magnitude of weight loss outcomes after bariatric surgery using data from the Michigan Bariatric Surgery Cohort. Patients aged 18 years or older undergoing gastric bypass or sleeve gastrectomy for obesity (380 and 334 patients, respectively) were included in the retrospective cohort.

The researchers found that the presence of diabetes at baseline did not impact the probability of achieving a body mass index (BMI) less than 30 kg/m² from the generalized linear mixed model analysis but did impact the probability of achieving 50 percent or more excess body-weight loss; individuals without diabetes had an increased likelihood of achieving this threshold (odds ratio, 1.56). Weight loss was diminished by 1.2 BMI points with the presence of diabetes at baseline, which was about 10 to 15 percent of total BMI points lost.

“Our study suggests that having bariatric surgery before developing diabetes may result in greater weight loss from the surgery,” a coauthor said in a statement.

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