Obese women who underwent bariatric surgery and maintained a lower weight had a 71 percent lower risk of developing uterine cancer than obese women who did not undergo weight loss surgery, according to research presented at the Society of Gynecological Oncology meeting and reported in MedPage Today.
Researchers analyzed admission data from the University HealthSystem Consortium database from January 2009 to June 2013 on women with a history of bariatric surgery or uterine cancer.
They found obese patients with a history of bariatric surgery had a uterine cancer rate of 682 per 100,000 admissions. Obese patients without a history of bariatric surgery had a uterine cancer rate of 1,409 per 100,000 admissions.
Researchers noted the data does not prove bariatric surgery leads to lower risk for uterine cancer, rather, it adds to the collective evidence that obesity increases a woman's risk for cancer, according to the report.
"Along with the findings of this current study, this supports that obesity may be a modifiable risk factor related to development of endometrial cancer," said Kristy Ward, MD, researcher in the study, in the report.
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