Twelve year study shows effectiveness of gastric bypass surgery
SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, USA, September 21, 2017 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The findings from a 12-year study following individuals who received gastric bypass surgery were published recently in the New England Journal of Medicine, which demonstrated the long-term durability of weight loss following gastric bypass surgery. The percentage of weight loss/gain among the gastric bypass group changed very little from six to 12 years. The results also showed gastric bypass surgery effective in the long-term remission of diabetes and in preventing the occurrence of diabetes, as well as hypertension and dyslipidemia.
Funded by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Diseases at the National Institute of Health (NIDDK/NIH), the study was a joint effort by Intermountain Healthcare, University of Utah School of Medicine, St. Mark’s Hospital, and Rocky Mountain Associated Physicians in Salt Lake City.
In total, 1,156 subjects consisting of patients who initially had gastric bypass surgery and two, severely obese non-surgical comparison groups, participated in the study. Clinical examinations occurred at baseline, two, six and 12 years. While body weight had very little change over 12 years in the non-surgery comparison groups, the gastric bypass group lost 35 percent of their initial weight at two years, 28 percent at six years and 27 percent at 12 years. For gastric bypass patients who had diabetes prior to their weight loss surgery, 75 percent of these patients had a remission of their diabetes at two years follow-up, and at 12 years, 51% of these patients were still in remission. The risk of becoming diabetic was 92% less among the participants who had had gastric bypass surgery when compared to the non-surgery participants. Similar favorable findings were found in the gastric bypass surgery group compared to the non-surgery participants with regards to high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
“The results of this study demonstrated the long-term durability of weight loss following gastric bypass surgery,” said Ted Adams, PhD, study lead and Intermountain Healthcare researcher. “The percentage of weight loss among the gastric bypass groups changed very little from six to 12 years. The results also show gastric bypass surgery is effective in the long-term remission of diabetes and is very effective in preventing the occurrence of diabetes.”
“Based upon the findings of this study, gastric bypass appears to be effective for significant, long-term weight loss and for the treatment and prevention of diabetes. The decision to have gastric bypass surgery should include individual assessment of risks and benefits of the surgery and consultation with one’s healthcare provider,” said Adams.
“One of the biggest benefits of gastric bypass surgery, beyond long-term weight loss, was the impact on diabetes,” said Paul Hopkins, MD, professor of Internal Medicine at the University of Utah Health. “If a patient received the surgery early in the course of diabetes, either before they were taking medication or before they began treating the disease with insulin injections, we found that 73 percent of patients remained in remission from diabetes.”
“This prospective study is remarkable because of its exceptional degree of follow-up and comprehensive evaluation of the long-term effects of gastric bypass surgery on both weight and metabolism,” said Rod McKinlay, MD, St. Mark’s Hospital. “ In addition to showing durable weight loss and significant improvement in type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, and cholesterol levels, the study also demonstrated long-term improvements in physical functioning and quality of life for gastric bypass patients.”
Steven Simper, MD, St. Mark’s Hospital, added “This study strongly reinforces the recent position statements from the International Diabetes Federation and American Diabetes Association recommending bariatric surgery for patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes. We encourage patients to thoughtfully consider surgery earlier rather than later as part of a comprehensive treatment approach for type 2 diabetes.”
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Salt Lake City, Utah–August 2017: Thanks to a partnership with the nonprofit Smiles Change Lives, local orthodontist Dr. Chase Dansie is giving hundreds of local kids a reason to smile. Dansie Orthodontics will be holding an Open House to screen children in the surrounding communities for braces through Smiles Change Lives.
Smiles Change Lives is a national nonprofit that helps kids get braces who could not otherwise afford them. On average, braces cost $6,000 per child, making them out of reach for many hard working families. Further, orthodontic treatment has long been considered cosmetic by insurance companies, providing little assistance, even for those that are insured. As a result, many children and teens suffer unnecessary discomfort and embarrassment from their misaligned teeth. Smiles Change Lives’ mission is to provide these families with the opportunity to provide their children with braces through its network of over 800 volunteer orthodontists in the United States and Canada.
Established in 1997, Smiles Change Lives has had a presence in the Salt Lake City area for nearly a decade. Upon learning about the program in 2015, Salt Lake City area orthodontist Dr. Dansie stepped up to help in a major way. Dansie Orthodontics has renewed its commitment and agreed to treat 50 kids through his practice over the next year. An Open House will be held in order to screen children for the program.
The Open House will be held on Saturday, September 30, 2017 from 8am-12pm at Dansie Orthodontics at 11996 S. Anthem Park Boulevard, Ste 100, Herriman, UT 84096. Families who meet the program qualifications for Smiles Change Lives are encouraged to attend and bring their child, a copy of their 2016 tax return (listing their child as a dependent) and a $30 application fee to the screening or they can submit an application in advance, which can be found at www.smileschangelives.org/apply. Families can learn more about the event at www.UtahSCL.com.
To qualify for the program, a child must be between the ages of 7-21, have good oral hygiene, not be wearing braces currently, have a moderate to severe need for braces, and meet certain financial guidelines (e.g., for a family of 4, their household income must be below $61,500).
In the words of a mother whose daughter recently completed treatment, “On behalf of myself and daughter, please accept our deepest thanks for a life changing experience for my daughter. She smiles all the time now and has a sense of confidence I've never seen before. To everyone responsible please know that you have helped another child regain a huge part of herself back. She may go on to change the world in a better way now; just like SCL did for her.”
To date, Smiles Change Lives and its network of orthodontists have helped more than 10,000 kids receive braces in the United States and Canada. Please watch this short video to learn more: http://www.smileschangelives.org/scl-overview-video.
About Dansie Orthodontics: Dr. Chase Dansie is an orthodontist with offices in Herriman and Duchesne, UT serving patients in and around Herriman, Duchesne, South Jordan, Riverton, Bluffdale and West Jordan, Utah. As an adolescent, Dr. Chase Dansie spent a lot of time in the orthodontic chair. He knows first-hand the difference quality care can make, as well as a confident smile. Fueled by his childhood experiences, Dr. Dansie developed a passion for setting a smile straight. For more information, visit www.dansieorthodontics.com/
About Smiles Change Lives: Smiles Change Lives provides access to life-changing orthodontic treatment for children from families that cannot afford the full cost of braces. Headquartered in Kansas City, Missouri, the program has treated more than 10,000 children since 1997 through its network of over 800 partner orthodontists. With its origin as the Virginia Brown Community Orthodontic Partnership, Smiles Change Lives has emerged as the nation’s leader in providing access to orthodontic care for qualified children. For more information, visit www.smileschangelives.org.
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DENVER—A new report released today by the Center for Western Priorities finds approximately the same percentage of U.S. public lands and state-owned public lands are at high risk of wildfire. The results disprove often-made claims that poor management makes U.S. public lands more fire-prone than other lands.
“Opportunistic politicians are trying to use this summer’s record wildfire season to scapegoat America’s public lands managers and erode protections for national forests, parks, monuments, and other public lands,” said Greg Zimmerman, deputy director at the Center for Western Priorities, one of the authors of Fire Lines: Comparing Wildfire Risk on State and U.S. Public Lands. “Addressing wildfire is serious business. But instead of taking its causes seriously, some politicians will say anything to buttress their ideological opposition to America’s public lands.”
Just yesterday, Congressman Rob Bishop—chairman of the House Natural Resources Committee—was quoted by the Washington Post making the baseless claim that state lands are “much healthier” than U.S. public lands.
The Center for Western Priorities’ first-of-its-kind analysis finds that approximately 23 percent of U.S. public lands in the West are at high risk of wildfire, while 22 percent of state-owned lands are at high risk of wildfire. There is a higher proportion of state-owned lands at high risk of wildfire in seven of the eleven states studied—California, Idaho, New Mexico, Nevada, Utah, Washington, and Wyoming—than U.S. public lands within the same state.
In Utah, a state whose politicians frequently blame the U.S. government for the existence of wildfire, the data tell a similar story. According to wildfire risk modeling, Utah state lands have a higher percentage of fire prone acres than U.S. public lands. In that state, over 31 percent of state-owned lands have a high wildfire risk. Approximately 23 percent of U.S. public lands in the state of Utah are at a high risk of wildfire.
Zimmerman continued, “There’s broad agreement in the scientific community about the root cause of worsening wildfire seasons. It is a combination of natural ecology, development into fire prone areas, hotter and longer fire seasons, and a history of suppressing even the tiniest fires. We’re overdue for our elected leaders to move past the blame games and get to work addressing the problems.”
The report points to five areas where policymakers could focus time and energy, including the urgent need to address the problem of “fire borrowing”, support landscape-scale restoration, invest in markets for forest restoration byproducts, focus attention on protecting high-risk areas from wildfire, and incentivize smart planning.
The analysis relies on the West Wide Wildfire Risk Assessment model, a key benchmark from the Council of Western State Foresters and Western Forestry Leadership Coalition, which evaluates wildfire risk on an acre-by-acre scale using key factors, including historical fire data, topography, vegetation, tree cover, local climate, and more.
CWP Deputy Director Greg Zimmerman is available for interviews. To speak with an expert on public lands, contact Aaron Weiss at 720-279-0019 or aaron@westernpriorities.org.
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