The use of bariatric surgery in patients with severe obesity is associated with a reduced incidence of esophageal and gastric cancers, according to a study published in JAMA Surgery.

This study included adults with severe obesity from a national discharge database in France. The patients were divided according to whether they had undergone bariatric surgery or not, with the patient groups propensity score-matched at a ratio of 1:2.

There were 303,709 patients who had undergone bariatric surgery and 605,140 patients who had not. The median ages were 40.2 years and 40.4 years, respectively. The control group had a mean follow-up of 5.62 years, and the surgical group had a mean follow-up of 6.06 years.


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Overall, esophagogastric cancer was reported in 337 patients, with 83 of these being in the surgical group and 254 in the control group. The incidence rate was 6.9 per 100,000 population per year in the control group and 4.9 per 100,000 population per year in the surgical group (incidence rate ratio, 1.42; 95% CI, 1.11-1.82; P =.005).

The risk of esophagogastric cancer was lower in the surgical group (hazard ratio [HR], 0.76; 95% CI, 0.59-0.98; P =.03), as was the risk of death (HR, 0.60; 95% CI, 0.56-0.64; P <.001). The 9-year overall survival rate was 99.1% in the surgical group and 98.5% in the control group .

“In a cohort of almost 1 million patients with obesity, we observed a significant decrease in the incidence of esophageal and gastric cancer in the surgical group,” the researchers wrote.

Disclosures: Some study authors declared affiliations with biotech, pharmaceutical, and/or device companies. Please see the original reference for a full list of disclosures.

Reference

Lazzati A, Poghosyan T, Touati M, Collet D, Gronnier C. Risk of esophageal and gastric cancer after bariatric surgery. JAMA Surg. Published online January 11, 2023. doi:10.1001/jamasurg.2022.6998

This article originally appeared on Oncology Nurse Advisor