Weight-loss surgery can provide lasting health benefits for obese teenagers The teens had 20% sustained lower BMI a decade after their surgery More than half the teens also experienced lasting remission of type 2 diabetes, improved blood pressure and lower cholesterol FRIDAY, Nov. 1, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- Hillary Fisher thinks receiving weight-loss surgery as a teenager put her on the path to a better life. Fisher is one of 260 teens who participated in a long-term study which recently concluded that weight-loss surgery can bring lasting health benefits for obese teenagers.
“It changed my life,” Fisher, now 31, said in a news release. “The improved health and self-esteem that came with the 100-pound weight loss were important to me and I would certainly do it again.” Fisher was not alone in her success: The surgery led to substantial and sustained weight loss for more than half of the study’s participants during a decade of follow-up, researchers reported Oct.
30 in the The teens also had fewer obesity-related health problems in adulthood like , high blood pressure and elevated cholesterol, researchers report. “Our study presents impressive outcomes of the longest follow-up of weight-loss surgery during adolescence, which validates bariatric surgery as a safe and effective long-term obesity management strategy,” said lead investigator , vice chair of research for the Department of Surgery at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.
Fisher decided.