Bariatric surgery improves retinal microvasculature in obesity

Adults with obesity who underwent Roux-en-Y gastric bypass or sleeve gastrectomy exhibited improvements to the vascular structure of the retina in the 6 months after surgery, study data show.Retinal microvasculature changes reflect damage from obesity, hypertension, diabetes and other chronic diseases, and the effect of weight loss induced by bariatric surgery on eye health are relatively unknown, Robyn J. Tapp, PhD, head of the ocular epidemiology unit at the University of Melbourne, Australia, and colleagues wrote in an abstract presenting the findings. The researchers analyzed data from 22 adults with obesity scheduled for Roux-en-Y gastric bypass or sleeve gastrectomy (mean age, 43 years; mean BMI, 40.8 kg/m²) and 15 age-matched controls (mean age, 45 years; mean BMI, 22.6 kg/m²) collected from eye exams at baseline and 6 months. Exams included fundus photography and retinal microvasculature analysis using a semi-automated computer program.