In June 2022, JAMA (one of the most authoritative medical journals) published the results of the SPLENDID study (Surgical Procedures and Long-term Effectiveness in Neoplastic Disease Incidence and Death), coordinated by Ali Alimian at the Cleveland Clinic in the USA. The study aimed to determine whether bariatric surgery influenced the development of cancer and, if so, whether it reduced or increased the incidence of cancer (Association of Bariatric Surgery With Cancer Risk and Mortality in Adults With Obesity. Ali Aminian, MD, et al. JAMA. doi:10.1001/jama.2022.9009 Published online June 3, 2022).

The study was conducted on more than 30,000 adults with obesity, observed between 2004 and 2017: 5,053 underwent bariatric surgery, while 25,265 were treated with non-surgical therapy.

In the non-surgical group, more cancers were observed over the years compared to the surgical group (4.9% vs. 2.9%, with a statistically significant difference), and cancer mortality was nearly halved in the bariatric surgery group.

The significance of the study is that in adults with obesity, those who undergo bariatric surgery, in addition to losing weight and reducing the risk of cardiovascular diseases (heart attacks, strokes), also have a lower risk of developing cancer and dying from cancer.