Dallas, Texas, July 27, 2023 - The Nicholson Clinic for Weight Loss Surgery is proud to share a new study conducted by the Cleveland Clinic which found that bariatric surgery may reduce the risk of major cardiovascular complications in patients with obesity and obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). The findings suggest that bariatric surgery is a safe and effective tool to help reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in these patients.

Obesity is a major health issue that can lead to a range of health problems, including sleep apnea. Sleep apnea is a condition where breathing stops and starts during sleep due to the narrowing of the airway. It can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and more. According to the American Heart Association (AHA), people with obesity are at higher risk for developing sleep apnea with almost 75% of those with sleep apnea having obesity as an underlying cause. It has been found to be a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease, including heart attack, heart failure and cardiac arrhythmias.

The study conducted a retrospective single-center analysis of 13,657 patients seen at Cleveland Clinic from 2004 to 2018 who had a BMI of 35 kg/m2 to 70 kg/m2 and moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, defined as apnea-hypopnea index of 15 or more events per hour as determined by a sleep study. Among the cohort, 970 had bariatric surgery and the rest did not. Baseline covariates were balanced between the surgery group and the control group after overlap weighting. The primary outcome was extended major adverse CV events (MACE), defined as coronary artery events, cerebrovascular events, HF, atrial fibrillation, and mortality. Patients were followed through September 2022.

The results showed that bariatric surgery was associated with significantly lower MACE (hazard ratio 0.63; 95% CI 0.51–0.78; P < .001) compared with non-surgical care among patients with moderate to severe OSA and obesity after adjustment for baseline characteristics including age, sex, BMI category , hypertension , diabetes mellitus , smoking status, dyslipidemia, prior myocardial infarction or stroke, prior coronary artery bypass grafting or percutaneous coronary intervention, left ventricular ejection fraction