Citation

Carlsson LMS, Sjöholm K, Ahlin S, Jacobson P, Andersson-Assarsson JC, Karlsson Lindahl L, Maglio C, Karlsson C, Hjorth S, Taube M, Carlsson B, Svensson PA, Peltonen M. Int. J. Obes. (NPG) 2019; 43(4): 933-937.

Affiliation

National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, International Association for the Study of Obesity, Publisher Nature Publishing Group)

DOI

10.1038/s41366-018-0097-y

PMID

29795467

Abstract

Obesity increases risk of falling, but the effect of bariatric surgery on fall-related injuries is unknown. The aim of this study was therefore to study the association between bariatric surgery and long-term incidence of fall-related injuries in the prospective, controlled Swedish Obese Subjects study. At inclusion, body mass index was ≥ 34 kg/m² in men and ≥38 kg/m² in women. The surgery per-protocol group (n = 2007) underwent gastric bypass (n = 266), banding (n = 376), or vertical banded gastroplasty (n = 1365), and controls (n = 2040) received usual care. At the time of analysis (31 December 2013), median follow-up was 19 years (maximal 26 years). Fall-related injuries requiring hospital treatment were captured using data from the Swedish National Patient Register. During follow-up, there were 617 first-time fall-related injuries in the surgery group and 513 in the control group (adjusted hazard ratio 1.21, 95% CI, 1.07-1.36; P = 0.002). The incidence differed between treatment groups (P < 0.001, log-rank test) and was higher after gastric bypass than after usual care, banding and vertical banded gastroplasty (adjusted hazard ratio 0.50-0.52, P < 0.001 for all three comparisons). In conclusion, gastric bypass surgery was associated with increased risk of serious fall-related injury requiring hospital treatment.

Language: en