New Study Finds Weight Loss Surgery Prolongs Life

New Study Finds Weight Loss Surgery Prolongs Life

Josanne English

Albertus Magnus College

SC-110-1 Human Health and Disease

New Study Finds Weight Loss Surgery Prolongs Life

Times Magazine recently reported about a study posted in the Journal of American Medical Association (JAMA) that weight loss surgery can prolong life for at risk patients by reducing the risk of stroke, heart failure, heart attack, and atrial fibrillation and overall lower death rates from any cause in high risk patients. The article suggested that after an eight year follow up, the patients who were type 2 diabetic who had the weight loss procedures had heart related events and illness decline by 39% and overall death from any cause declined by 41%. The study claims that there are many factors that may contribute to the lower mortality rate. One of those being that once patients undergo weight loss surgery, “There are neurohormonal changes we see after these procedures that could have significant metabolic effects and benefits for patients,” says Dr. Ali Aminian, associate professor of surgery at Cleveland Clinic which performed the study for this claim. The study claimed that of the patients with type 2 diabetes who used insulin medication, no longer needed it after the weight loss surgery. Also, the use of non-insulin diabetic medication dropped by half from 80% to 40%.  Dr. Steven Nissen, chairman of cardiovascular medicine at the Cleveland Clinic and senior author of the paper states that, “What this tells me is that the heart-related morbidity and mortality associated with diabetes and obesity is reversible with the right procedure.”

To verify this scientific claim, I need to confirm that the scientific evidence is observation based and quantifiable. Next, the evidence needs to be apparent so I can understand how the data was collected. The source and quality of the data needs to be verifiable and referenced as well. Thirdly, the evidence should be free of bias. The evidence should come from an objective source with no hidden agenda.

We will begin with the first requirement of the criteria set forth above. Is the evidence observation based and quantifiable? Based on the article, the research was observation based. The research was a clinical trial that took place in Cleveland Clinical during 1998 and 2017 with a follow up in December of 2018. There were 13,722 participants varying between surgical and non-surgical patients, men and women.

The second requirement of the criteria asks that the evidence be apparent to understand how the data was collected. The data was collected by varying participants in a clinical trial based in Cleveland over the span of ten years. The evidence took into account different variables such as age, gender, race, BMI, surgical, non-surgical, diabetic and non-diabetic.

The tertiary criterion states that the evidence needs to be biased free with no hidden agenda. The study was published in the Journal of American Medical Association. Based on the authorship guidelines established by the International Committee of Medical Journal Editors (ICMJE) and listed on the JAMA website the following must be observed in order to be published in the journal: substantial contributions to conception or design of the work, or the acquisition, analysis, or interpretation of data for the work; and drafting of the work or revising it critically for important intellectual content; and final approval of the version to be published; and agreement to be accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. Based on this criterion, I duly believe that the research provided was free of bias and hidden agenda.

Works Cited

https://time.com/5664640/weight-loss-surgery-health-benefits/ (2019, 09 02) Retrieved 09 03, 2019, from https://time.com/5664640/weight-loss-surgery-health-benefits/

Ali Aminian, MD; Alexander Zajichek, MS; David E. Arterburn, MD, et al. Association of Metabolic Surgery With Major Adverse Cardiovascular Outcomes in Patient With Type 2 Diabetes and Obesity. Journal of American Medicine Association. 2019. Page 1.