Severely obese adults may reap significant health benefits from bariatric surgery, including reduced heart risks. And rewards of the weight loss procedure may outweigh risks, according to a new scientific statement.
The scientific statement from the American Heart Association is the first to focus solely on bariatric surgery and cardiac risk factors, says lead author Paul Poirier, MD, PhD, of Laval University Hospital in Canada.
Poirier, director of the prevention and rehabilitation program at Laval’s Quebec Heart and Lung Institute, says in a news release that the new statement does not represent an across-the-board endorsement of bariatric surgery but provides views of experts on the procedure that can be used to inform doctors and obese patients.
“It is a consensus document that provides expert perspective based on the results of recent scientific studies,” he says.