Bariatric Surgery Linked to Improved IBD Outcomes in Patients With Obesity

THURSDAY, Aug. 21, 2025 (HealthDay News) — For patients with inflammatory bowel disease and obesity, bariatric surgery is associated with improved inflammatory bowel disease-related outcomes, according to a study published online July 22 in BJS Open.

Erik Stenberg, M.D., from Örebro University in Sweden, and colleagues conducted a nationwide cohort study involving all adult patients in Sweden between 2007 and 2020 with obesity and inflammatory bowel disease. A two-stage process was used to match those undergoing bariatric surgery with those who were not.

A total of 798 patients with inflammatory bowel disease and obesity were included: 399 underwent bariatric surgery and 399 did not. The researchers found that the composite primary end point (inflammatory bowel disease-related hospitalization, initiation of corticosteroid therapy, immunomodulation, commencement of a new targeted therapy, or major inflammatory bowel disease-related surgery) occurred in 201 and 226 patients who had surgery and did not have surgery, respectively (incidence rate, 11.9 and 15.1 per 100 person-years), corresponding to a hazard ratio of 0.66 for those undergoing bariatric surgery.

“Bariatric surgery was associated with a lower risk of worsening IBD. The risk was reduced both in ulcerative colitis and in Crohn”s disease,” the authors write. “A similar tendency was seen after sleeve gastrectomy as well as Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, but the results were statistically significant only after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery.”

Several authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

Abstract/Full Text