Diabetes: Study finds bariatric surgery beats diet, exercise

A study designed to compare bariatric surgery with lifestyle interventions found that Type II diabetics treated with gastric bypass or banding procedures fared better than patients who watched their diets and exercised. Results from “Bariatric Surgery versus Intensive Medical Therapy for Diabetes – 3-Year Outcomes,” which was funded by Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) subsidiaries Ethicon and LifeScan, the Cleveland Clinic and the National Institutes of Health, were published online yesterday in the Journal of the American Medical Assn. The 3-year, 61-patient study randomized obese subjects 1 of 3 arms: Roux-en-Y gastric bypass; laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding; or 1 year of intensive lifestyle intervention. After a year all 3 arms were subject to 2 years of low-level lifestyle intervention, according to the study. The primary endpoints were partial and complete Type II diabetes remission, with secondary endpoints of diabetes medications and weight change. Forty percent of the gastric bypass arm and 29% of the gastric banding cohort achieved partial or complete remission, compared with no remission for the lifestyle intervention arm, according to the study. No diabetes meds were needed after 3 years for 65% for the bypass group and 33% for the banding group, compared with no change in medication for the lifestyle group. The study was limited by its small size and short duration, which weren’t adequate to detect differences in complications suc...
Source: Mass Device - Category: Medical Equipment Authors: Tags: Clinical Trials Weight loss Journal of the American Medical Assn. (JAMA) Source Type: news