Among women, bariatric surgery is associated with lower all-cancer and obesity-related cancer incidence, according to a study published in Obesity. Alison Fraser, MSPH, and colleagues conducted a retrospective study to examine the correlation between weight loss and cancer among post-bariatric surgery patients. A total of 21,837 patients were matched by age, sex, and BMI with a nonsurgical comparison group in a 1:1 ratio. Relative to the non-surgery comparison group, patients who underwent bariatric surgery had a significantly lower risk for developing any cancers (HR, 0.75). Cancer incidence was lower among women, but not men, who underwent bariatric surgery (HR, 0.67). Compared with women who did not undergo surgery, women who did had a reduced risk for obesity-related cancers (ie, breast, ovarian, uterine, and colon; HR, 0.59). In women, cancer mortality was significantly lower after surgery (HR, 0.53). The results provide “another important study that strongly supports the long-term benefits of weight loss surgery in the prevention of cancer,” a co author said in a statement.
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