A recent study conducted by the Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark found that three out of every four persons living with obesity and type 2 diabetes who receive a RYGB ( Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass) experience remission within one year. Remission is defined as blood glucose levels at non-diabetes range without using diabetes medications.

This study followed 1,111 individuals who had an elevated BMI and type 2 diabetes and underwent RYGB from 2006-2015. It also followed 1,074 individuals who also had an elevated BMI with type 2 diabetes but did not undergo the surgery.

The results of this study for people with type 2 and a BMI of 35 or greater who had RYGB:

• 74% of individuals experienced diabetes remission within one year
• 27% of these individuals relapsed after approximately five years.
• Those less likely to experience diabetes remission included:
  – those over 50,
  – diabetes duration > 5 years,
  – use of glucose lowering drugs other than metformin
  – baseline A1c of more than 7%

In addition, those who had RYGB surgery had a significantly reduced risk of microvascular and possibly macrovascular complications compared to those who did not have surgery.

According to the authors of the study, RYGB is associated with a high remission rate and a decreased rate of vascular complications, especially if surgery in performed early after diabetes diagnosis.

For more information on this topic, read the full study in Diabetologia- Effect of Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery on diabetes remission and complications in individuals with type 2 diabetes: a Danish population-based matched cohort study.

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