Summary
The Alliance of Randomized Trials of Medicine vs Metabolic Surgery in Type 2 Diabetes (ARMMS-T2D) study, recently published in JAMA, highlights the efficacy of bariatric surgery for treating type 2 diabetes in adults with obesity.1 The study presents a comprehensive assessment of the long-term durability and safety of bariatric surgery versus medical/lifestyle management for type 2 diabetes.
Through a pooled analysis of four single-center randomized trials in the United States and up to 12 years of follow-up, bariatric surgery demonstrated superior glycemic control, manifesting as a reduction in hemoglobin A1C (HbA1C) by 1.4% at 7 years and 1.1% at 12 years compared to medical/lifestyle intervention. Furthermore, the study noted both a decreased requirement for diabetes medications and heightened rates of diabetes remission post-surgery.
Despite some adverse events, such as anemia, fractures, and gastrointestinal issues, the findings underscore the necessity for broader consideration of bariatric surgery as a viable treatment option, particularly when glycemic targets are not achieved with medical or lifestyle interventions.
Sources
1Courcoulas AP, Patti ME, Hu B, et al. Long-term outcomes of medical management vs bariatric surgery in type 2 diabetes. JAMA. 2024;331(8):654–664. doi:10.1001/jama.2024.0318.
This summary was created with assistance from generative artificial intelligence (ChatGPT, 2024).