Prof. Hafezi, Medical Director of the ELZA Institute in Dietikon, Zurich, Switzerland, co-authored a recently published paper that indicated that obese adults have a lower risk of developing cataracts if they have previously had bariatric surgery – in other words, bariatric surgery reduces cataract development.
The study’s authors performed a population-based cohort study that used data from national healthcare registries and examined the recorded eye health status of 22,560 obese adults aged 40–79 years who underwent bariatric surgery in Swedish hospitals over a period spanning from 2006 to 2019, and compared those outcomes with a matched control group of 35,523 people who did not undergo this surgery.
What they found was substantial weight loss was associated with a decreased risk of cataract development. In the surgery group, 1,151 people developed cataract, whereas 2,316 developed cataracts in the control group (a 29% reduction in risk). The effect was most prominent if obesity surgery was performed before the patient reached the age of 60 years, as no significant differences in cataract development rates were observed between surgery and control groups in study patients aged aged 60 to 79 years. No differences in cataract risk were observed by sex or duration of follow-up.
The study authors observed that there was likely a dose-response relationship between the amount of weight loss and reduction in cataract incidence: patients who underwent gastric bypass surgery had a 32% lower risk of developing cataract compared with control subjects, but the risk of cataract development was similar for patients who underwent sleeve gastrectomy vs. controls.
The authors noted that “Preserving vision is essential, and a potential delay in cataract development following bariatric surgery, as observed in this study, may be valuable information for patients with obesity in decision-making about bariatric surgery.”
Reference
Burkard T, Holmberg D, Thorell A, Hafezi F, Burden AM. The association between bariatric surgery and cataract: a propensity score-matched cohort study. Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases. Published online November 2021:S1550728921005190.
Click here or on the image below to access the manuscript.
