Hypothesis: Systolic and diastolic pressure and the incidence of hypertension in very obese patients decline after bariatric surgery and do not rebound.
Design: Chart review.
Setting: Surgical practice in a university medical center.
Patients: Women and men, 18 years or older, with a body mass index (BMI) (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters) of 40 or greater, having no previous surgical intervention for extreme obesity.
Intervention: Vertical-banded gastroplasty or Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.
Main outcome measures: Systolic and diastolic blood pressure, BMI, and antihypertensive medications.
Results: Patients underwent Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (n = 285; mean initial BMI, 55.7) or vertical banded gastroplasty (n = 62; mean initial BMI, 48.5); half of each group was hypertensive at evaluation. The BMI dropped in both groups after surgery and stabilized at about 35 within 18 months. Systolic pressure changes were generally modest, although diastolic pressure declined significantly after surgery. In patients with untreated stage 1 hypertension, marked reductions in systolic and diastolic pressures occurred after surgery. Many patients taking antihypertensive medications before surgery discontinued them after surgery and remained normotensive.
Conclusions: Blood pressure reductions that occur after bariatric surgery and substantial weight loss depend on the blood pressure status of patients before surgery: normotensive patients and hypertensive patients taking antihypertensive medications show small postsurgical pressure reductions, while patients with elevated blood pressure before surgery show notable postsurgical pressure drops. The overall incidence of hypertension after bariatric surgery declines substantially and remains low.