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Importance Severe obesity and its related diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and sleep apnea, are very common in the United States, but currently very few patients with these conditions choose to undergo bariatric surgery. Summaries of the expanding evidence for both the benefits and risks of bariatric surgery are needed to better guide shared decision-making conversations. Observations There are approximately 252 000 bariatric procedures (per 2018 numbers) performed each year in the US, of which an estimated 15% are revisions. The 1991 National Institutes of Health guidelines recommended consideration of bariatric surgery in patients with a body mass index (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) of 40 or higher or 35 or higher with serious obesity-related comorbidities. These guidelines are still widely used; however, there is increasing evidence that bariatric procedures should also be considered for patients with type 2 diabetes and a body mass index of 30 to 35 if hyperglycemia is inadequately controlled despite optimal medical treatment for type 2 diabetes. Substantial evidence indicates that surgery results in greater improvements in weight loss and type 2 diabetes outcomes, compared with nonsurgical interventions, regardless of the type of procedures used. The 2 most common procedures used currently, the sleeve gastrectomy and gastric bypass, have similar effects on weight loss and diabetes outcomes and similar safety through at least 5-year follow-up. However, emerging evidence suggests that the sleeve procedure is associated with fewer reoperations, and the bypass procedure may lead to more durable weight loss and glycemic control. Although safety is a concern, current data indicate that the perioperative mortality rates range from 0.03% to 0.2%, which has substantially improved since early 2000s. More long-term randomized studies are needed to assess the effect of bariatric procedures on cardiovascular disease, cancer, and other health outcomes and to evaluate emerging newer procedures. Conclusions and Relevance Modern bariatric procedures have strong evidence of efficacy and safety. All patients with severe obesity—and especially those with type 2 diabetes—should be engaged in a shared decision-making conversation about the risks and benefits of surgery compared with continuing usual medical and lifestyle treatment, and the decision about surgery should be driven primarily by informed patient preferences.

IMPORTANCE: Although metabolic surgery (defined as procedures that influence metabolism by inducing weight loss and altering gastrointestinal physiology) significantly improves cardiometabolic risk factors, the effect on cardiovascular outcomes has been less well characterized. OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between metabolic surgery and incident major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients with type 2 diabetes and obesity. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: Of 287 438 adult patients with diabetes in the Cleveland Clinic Health System in the United States between 1998 and 2017, 2287 patients underwent metabolic surgery. In this retrospective cohort study, these patients were matched 1:5 to nonsurgical patients with diabetes and obesity (body mass index [BMI] ≥30), resulting in 11 435 control patients, with follow-up through December 2018. EXPOSURES: Metabolic gastrointestinal surgical procedures vs usual care for type 2 diabetes and obesity. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The primary outcome was the incidence of extended MACE (composite of 6 outcomes), defined as first occurrence of all-cause mortality, coronary artery events, cerebrovascular events, heart failure, nephropathy, and atrial fibrillation. Secondary end points included 3-component MACE (myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, and mortality) and the 6 individual components of the primary end point. RESULTS: Among the 13 722 study participants, the distribution of baseline covariates was balanced between the surgical group and the nonsurgical group, including female sex (65.5% vs 64.2%), median age (52.5 vs 54.8 years), BMI (45.1 vs 42.6), and glycated hemoglobin level (7.1% vs 7.1%). The overall median follow-up duration was 3.9 years (interquartile range, 1.9-6.1 years). At the end of the study period, 385 patients in the surgical group and 3243 patients in the nonsurgical group experienced a primary end point (cumulative incidence at 8-years, 30.8% [95% CI, 27.6%-34.0%] in the surgical group and 47.7% [95% CI, 46.1%-49.2%] in the nonsurgical group [P

Importance Macrovascular disease is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality for patients with type 2 diabetes, and medical management, including lifestyle changes, may not be successful at lowering risk. Objective To investigate the relationship between bariatric surgery and incident macrovascular (coronary artery disease and cerebrovascular diseases) events in patients with severe obesity and type 2 diabetes. Design, Setting, and Participants In this retrospective, matched cohort study, patients with severe obesity (body mass index ≥35) aged 19 to 79 years with diabetes who underwent bariatric surgery from 2005 to 2011 in 4 integrated health systems in the United States (n = 5301) were matched to 14 934 control patients on site, age, sex, body mass index, hemoglobin A1c, insulin use, observed diabetes duration, and prior health care utilization, with follow-up through September 2015. Exposures Bariatric procedures (76% Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, 17% sleeve gastrectomy, and 7% adjustable gastric banding) were compared with usual care for diabetes. Main Outcomes and Measures Multivariable-adjusted Cox regression analysis investigated time to incident macrovascular disease (defined as first occurrence of coronary artery disease [acute myocardial infarction, unstable angina, percutaneous coronary intervention, or coronary artery bypass grafting] or cerebrovascular events [ischemic stroke, hemorrhagic stroke, carotid stenting, or carotid endarterectomy]). Secondary outcomes included coronary artery disease and cerebrovascular outcomes separately. Results Among a combined 20 235 surgical and nonsurgical patients, the mean (SD) age was 50 (10) years; 76% of the surgical and 75% of the nonsurgical patients were female; and the baseline mean (SD) body mass index was 44.7 (6.9) and 43.8 (6.7) in the surgical and nonsurgical groups, respectively. At the end of the study period, there were 106 macrovascular events in surgical patients (including 37 cerebrovascular and 78 coronary artery events over a median of 4.7 years; interquartile range, 3.2-6.2 years) and 596 events in the matched control patients (including 227 cerebrovascular and 398 coronary artery events over a median of 4.6 years; interquartile range, 3.1-6.1 years). Bariatric surgery was associated with a lower composite incidence of macrovascular events at 5 years (2.1% in the surgical group vs 4.3% in the nonsurgical group; hazard ratio, 0.60 [95% CI, 0.42-0.86]), as well as a lower incidence of coronary artery disease (1.6% in the surgical group vs 2.8% in the nonsurgical group; hazard ratio, 0.64 [95% CI, 0.42-0.99]). The incidence of cerebrovascular disease was not significantly different between groups at 5 years (0.7% in the surgical group vs 1.7% in the nonsurgical group; hazard ratio, 0.69 [95% CI, 0.38-1.25]). Conclusions and Relevance In this observational study of patients with type 2 diabetes and severe obesity who underwent surgery, compared with those who did not undergo surgery, bariatric surgery was associated with a lower risk of macrovascular outcomes. The findings require confirmation in randomized clinical trials. Health care professionals should engage patients with severe obesity and type 2 diabetes in a shared decision making conversation about the potential role of bariatric surgery in the prevention of macrovascular events.

Accumulating evidence suggests that bariatric surgery improves survival among patients with severe obesity, but research among veterans has shown no evidence of benefit.To examine long-term survival in a large multisite cohort of patients who underwent bariatric surgery compared with matched control patients.In a retrospective cohort study, we identified 2500 patients (74% men) who underwent bariatric surgery in Veterans Affairs (VA) bariatric centers from 2000-2011 and matched them to 7462 control patients using sequential stratification and an algorithm that included age, sex, geographic region, body mass index, diabetes, and Diagnostic Cost Group. Survival was compared across patients who underwent bariatric surgery and matched controls using Kaplan-Meier estimators and stratified, adjusted Cox regression analyses.Bariatric procedures, which included 74% gastric bypass, 15% sleeve gastrectomy, 10% adjustable gastric banding, and 1% other.All-cause mortality through December 2013.Surgical patients (n = 2500) had a mean age of 52 years and a mean BMI of 47. Matched control patients (n = 7462) had a mean age of 53 years and a mean BMI of 46. At the end of the 14-year study period, there were a total of 263 deaths in the surgical group (mean follow-up, 6.9 years) and 1277 deaths in the matched control group (mean follow-up, 6.6 years). Kaplan-Meier estimated mortality rates were 2.4% at 1 year, 6.4% at 5 years, and 13.8% at 10 years for surgical patients; for matched control patients, 1.7% at 1 year, 10.4% at 5 years, and 23.9% at 10 years. Adjusted analysis showed no significant association between bariatric surgery and all-cause mortality in the first year of follow-up (adjusted hazard ratio [HR], 1.28 [95% CI, 0.98-1.68]), but significantly lower mortality after 1 to 5 years (HR, 0.45 [95% CI, 0.36-0.56]) and 5 to 14 years (HR, 0.47 [95% CI, 0.39-0.58]). The midterm (1-5 years) and long-term (5 years) relationships between surgery and survival were not significantly different across subgroups defined by diabetes diagnosis, sex, and period of surgery.Among obese patients receiving care in the VA health system, those who underwent bariatric surgery compared with matched control patients who did not have surgery had lower all-cause mortality at 5 years and up to 10 years following the procedure. These results provide further evidence for the beneficial relationship between surgery and survival that has been demonstrated in younger, predominantly female populations.

Bariatric surgery is probably more efficacious than medical or lifestyle intervention for long-term weight loss and remission of diabetes. The ability of bariatric surgery to reduce expenditures sufficiently to achieve cost savings remains hotly debated, and in 2 early studies, it appeared cost-saving over a relatively short period of time.1,2 More recent studies,3,4 including an analysis of 29 820 BlueCross BlueShield enrollees published in the June issue of JAMA Surgery,5 show no evidence of cost savings. These results are consistent with prior cost-effectiveness evaluations6,7 that demonstrated cost-effectiveness—but not cost savings—for bariatric procedures compared with usual medical care or intensive lifestyle interventions. Still, a critical policy question remains unanswered: does bariatric surgery need to be cost-effective (ie, more effective but more costly than usual care), or does it need to achieve the higher standard of cost savings (ie, more effective and less costly than usual care) to justify broader insurance coverage? Because bariatric surgery is so expensive, it is unlikely to achieve a cost-saving threshold for most eligible patients. Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) costs $25 000 to $30 000 for the surgical admission (including the cost of the procedure and immediate preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative services), and laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) costs $15 000 to $20 000.5 Annual health care costs for patients with a body mass index (BMI) of 35 or greater are $3000 to $10 000 per year.4,5 Even if total expenditures are reduced 50% after surgery, it may take up to 20 years to achieve cost neutrality. There is a need to identify whether certain bariatric procedures or patient subgroups have greater potential for health improvements and cost savings to inform insurance coverage decisions about bariatric procedures.

At 2, 3, and 4 years, respectively, 9.2%, 6.4%, and 3.5% of intensive lifestyle intervention participants (n=2262) had partial diabetes remission compared with 1.7%, 1.3%, and 0.5% of participants in the diabetes support and education group(n=2241).Completeremissionwaslesscommon:1.3% and0.7%at1and4years.Followingpartialremission,onethird of lifestyle intervention participants relapsed to diabeteseachyear.Participantswithearly-stagediabetes(shortestduration,nottreatedwithinsulin,goodbaselineglycemic control) were most likely to benefit from the intensive lifestyle intervention. Look AHEAD has already shown that intensive lifestyle modification can induce significant improvements in other intermediate health indicators, such as body weight, fitness, blood pressure, glycemic control, and lipids. 4 However,theseimprovedriskfactorprofilesdidnottranslate into lower rates of nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, hospitalization for angina, or death compared with conventional diabetes treatment; and this recently led the National Institutes of Health to halt the Look AHEAD intervention group because it did not decrease the occurrenceofcardiovascularevents,theprimarystudygoal. 5 The