Pediatric researchers at Columbus, Ohio-based Nationwide Children's Hospital found severely obese adolescents who had bariatric surgery showed significant improvements in heart disease risk factors, according to a study published in Pediatrics.
"Teen Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery" is a multi-center clinical study that analyzes the safety and health effects of surgical weight loss procedures in adolescents. Teen-LABS is an ongoing study being conducted at five clinical centers across the U.S.
Here are four things to know about the study.
1. This study extends previous findings that describe heart disease risk factors within a group of 242 adolescents. To determine changes in heart disease risk factors, researchers measured adolescents' blood pressure, lipids, glucose homeostasis and inflammation.
2. Before bariatric surgery, 33 percent of participants had three or more defined cardiovascular disease risk factors. Three years after bariatric surgery, only 5 percent of study participants had three or more risk factors.
3. Female patients were more likely than males to demonstrate improvements in elevated blood pressure.
4. Younger participants were more likely to resolve dyslipidemia, or abnormally elevated cholesterol or lipids in the blood, compared to older patients. The finding suggests there may be advantages to undergoing bariatric surgery earlier, even among adolescents, according to Marc. P. Michalsky, MD, surgical director of the Center for Healthy Weight and Nutrition at Nationwide Children's and lead author of this Teen-LABS publication.