Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
'A Big Deal': Weight Loss Surgery Reported To Lower Risk Of Heart Attack, Stroke By 39% In Diabetics
The New York Times: Weight-Loss Surgery May Reduce Heart Risks In People With Type 2 Diabetes
Every year, hundreds of thousands of obese Americans undergo weight-loss surgery in a last-ditch effort to shed pounds and control their Type 2 diabetes. Now a new study suggests that bariatric surgery may also have other significant health benefits, cutting the overall risk of serious cardiovascular events and premature death by almost half. (Rabin, 9/2)
CBS News: Surgery For Weight Loss Found To Decrease Risk Of Heart Attack And Stroke, Study Reports
Carolyn Auckerman is one of those people. The 57-year-old is now a bundle of energy — that's a far cry from more than two years ago, when her weight hit 310 pounds. "I got tired very easily, I had sleep apnea, diabetes," she told "CBS Evening News." Then she had gastric bypass surgery, where doctors shrink the size of the stomach so less food can be absorbed. Carolyn has lost 130 pounds and her Type 2 diabetes has disappeared. Dr. Steven Nissen and colleagues at the Cleveland Clinic wanted to know if bariatric surgery could also prevent the cardiovascular problems associated with diabetes. They followed nearly 2,300 people who had undergone bariatric surgery and compared them to more than 11,000 obese patients with similar symptoms who did not have the surgery. (Lapook, 9/2)
The Wall Street Journal: Weight-Loss Surgery Has Other Benefits: Easing Diabetes And Heart Disease
Analyzing the electronic health records over eight years of 13,722 obese patients with Type 2 diabetes and other high-risk health problems, researchers at the Cleveland Clinic found that those who had bariatric surgery—also known as metabolic or weight-loss surgery—were 39% less likely to experience a heart- or stroke-related event than those who had standard medical care. The surgery patients were also 41% less likely to die from any cause. Those effects were huge, said Ali Aminian, a bariatric surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic and lead author. (McKay, 9/2)
Bloomberg: For Diabetics, Weight-Loss Surgery Slashes The Risk Of Death
“When diabetes gets better, when risk factors like high cholesterol and blood pressure decrease, we would expect improvement,” said Ali Aminian, the lead researcher and a bariatric surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. “But we didn’t expect it to this extent. That’s what’s surprising to us.” The findings come amid two critical trends in public health: a growing obesity epidemic and the slowing of progress made against heart disease, the leading cause of death worldwide. The two trends appear to be inextricably related, said Steve Nissen, head of cardiology at the Cleveland Clinic and the senior author of the paper. (Cortez, 9/2)
The Associated Press: As With Adults, No Easy Way To Address Weight With Children
Red, yellow, green. It's a system for conveying the healthfulness of foods, and at the center of a debate about how to approach weight loss for children. This month, the company formerly known as Weight Watchers provoked a backlash when it introduced a food tracking app for children as young as 8. The app uses a well-known traffic-light system to classify foods, giving children a weekly limit of 42 "reds," which include steak, peanut butter and chips. (Choi, 8/30)
