Bariatric surgery reduces the risk of pancreatic cancer in individuals with obesity before the age of 50 years: A nationwide administrative data study in France

Menée en France à partir de données hospitalières portant sur 1,2 millions de témoins et 160 129 patients ayant eu recours à une chirurgie bariatrique (âge : 18-50 ans ; durée de suivi : 5,2 ans), cette étude analyse l'effet de la chirurgie sur le risque de cancer du pancréas lié à l'obésité

European Journal of Surgical Oncology, sous presse, 2022, résumé

Résumé en anglais

Background: Obesity is a well-established risk factor for pancreatic cancer. Bariatric surgery has demonstrated superior results in terms of weight loss and obesity-related comorbidities compared to medical and behavioral treatments. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of bariatric surgery on pancreatic cancer incidence in individuals with obesity.

Method: Individuals with a diagnosis of obesity were retrieved from the French national hospital discharge database. We conducted a cohort study comparing the risk to develop pancreatic cancer in individuals with obesity with and without history of bariatric surgery; the inverse probability of treatment weighting (IPTW) method was performed to assess the uncertainty around the results. Moreover, a subgroup analysis according to age at the time of bariatric surgery was performed to study its impact on the risk of pancreatic cancer. Finally, possible differences depending on the type of bariatric procedure (sleeve gastrectomy vs Roux-en-Y gastric bypass) were also explored.

Results: 160,129 (Bariatric Surgery group) and 1,263,804 (control group) patients with 5.2 ± 1.9 and 6.0 ± 1.9 years of follow-up respectively were included. A significant reduced risk to develop pancreatic cancer during follow-up was identified for the bariatric surgery group in the overall population (HR: 0.567). However, this reduced risk was only observed in the 18–50 years group. These results were furtherly confirmed after IPTW analysis. No difference was found between different bariatric procedures.

Conclusion: Bariatric surgery has a protective effect against pancreatic cancer in the 18–50 years population. High-quality prospective studies are needed to confirm these results.