- Researchers say people with obesity who had bariatric surgery had lower blood pressure, better body mass index scores, and used less medication than those who only used drugs to control hypertension.
- They say their five-year study demonstrates the lasting health benefits of bariatric surgery.
- Exercise, improved diet, quitting smoking, and getting better sleep also can reduce blood pressure.
Hypertension is common among people with obesity, but people who undergo bariatric surgery to control their weight are better able to lower their blood pressure than those taking antihypertensive medication alone.
That’s according to a study published today in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Researchers reported that individuals who underwent bariatric surgery — procedures involving the digestive system designed to limit the amount of food that can be consumed at one sitting — were more likely to maintain normal blood pressure medication and had lower body mass index (BMI) scores after five years than people with obesity who did not have the surgery.
“Bariatric surgery treats the underlying cause of high blood pressure rather than just dilating the blood vessels” like antihypertensive medications do, said Dr. Mitchell Roslin, the director of bariatric surgery at Northern Westchester Hospital in New York who was not involved in the research.
“Obesity is a symptom of metabolic overload, so if you’re not addressing that, you’re not addressing the problem,” he explained to Medical News Today.
“In clinical practice, obesity is an overlooked condition,” said Dr. Carlos Aurelio Schiavon, the lead author of the study and a surgeon specializing in bariatric surgery at Heart Hospital and BP Hospital in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in a press statement. “As a consequence, there is a frequent failure in approaching obesity as…
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