The Impact of Ethnicity on Cardiovascular Risk Reduction and Heart Age After Bariatric Surgery.

Abstract

Risk factors for heart disease include arterial hypertension, high cholesterol, tobacco abuse, and obesity. There is a paucity of data regarding role of ethnicity in bariatric surgery (BS) outcomes. The study's aim is to determine if ethnicity plays a significant role in BS outcomes, heart age, and cardiovascular risk. We conducted a retrospective review of data collected concurrently from patients who underwent BS from 2010 to 2015. We analyzed demographics, comorbidities, heart age, and cardiovascular risk-score at surgery and 12-month follow-up. Ethnicities categorized were Caucasian and African American. Heart age was calculated using the Framingham Study Heart Age Calculator and cardiovascular risk-score using the Atherosclerotic Cardiovascular Disease Risk Calculator. A total of 292 patients presented all the variables needed to calculate heart age and cardiovascular risk score. This patient population was composed of 85% Caucasians and 15% African American. Female gender represented 67% (N = 202) of patients with mean age of 52.6 ± 10.7years. LSG was the most prevalent procedure performed in 73.2% (N = 213) of patients. Mean BMI pre-operatively versus post-operatively by ethnicity was 41.46 ± 4.66 vs 30.08 ± 4.34 Caucasians and 41.90 ± 4.69 vs 32.08 ± 4.68 African Americans. Mean heart age pre-operatively versus post-operatively by ethnicity was 71.35 ± 14.59 vs 62.45 ± 16.12 (p < 0.0001) for Caucasians and 71.38 ± 14.30 vs 65.91 ± 16.61 (p = 0.11) for African Americans. The mean cardiovascular risk scores pre-operatively versus post-operatively by ethnicity were 0.24 ± 0.20 vs 0.15 ± 0.14 (p < 0.0001) for Caucasians and 0.20 ± 0.19 vs 0.16 ± 0.17 (p = 0.23) for African Americans. Ethnicity does not seem to impact weight loss after BS. However, we found a significant ethnicity-elated difference in reduction of heart age and cardiovascular risk.