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Bariatric Surgery

Effects of bariatric surgery on disability pension in Swedish obese subjects

International Journal of Obesity volume 36, pages 356–362 (2012)Cite this article

Abstract

Background:

Prospective controlled data on the long-term effects of bariatric surgery on disability pension are not available. This study prospectively compare disability pension in surgically and conventionally treated obese men and women.

Methods:

The Swedish obese subjects study started in 1987 and involved 2010 obese patients who had bariatric surgery and 2037 contemporaneously matched obese controls, who received conventional treatment. Outcomes of this report were: (i) incidence of disability pension from study inclusion to 31 December 2006 in all subjects, and, (ii) number of disability pension days over 10 years in a subgroup of individuals (N=2901) followed for at least 10 years where partial pensions were recalculated to full number of days per year. Objective information on granted disability pension was obtained from the Swedish Social Insurance Agency and disability pension follow-up rate was 99.9%.

Results:

In men, the unadjusted incidence of disability pension did not differ between the surgery and control groups (N=156 in both groups). When adjusting for baseline confounders in men, a reduced risk of disability pension was suggested in the surgery group (hazard ratio 0.79, 95% confidence interval 0.62–1.00; P=0.05). Furthermore, the adjusted average number of disability pension days was lower in the surgery group, 609 versus 734 days (P=0.01). In women, bariatric surgery was not associated with significant effects on incidence or number of days of disability pension.

Conclusion:

Bariatric surgery may be associated with favourable effects on disability pension for up to 19 years in men whereas neither favourable nor unfavourable effects could be detected in women.

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Acknowledgements

KN had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis. This work was supported by grants from The Filip Lundberg Foundation, and Swedish Foundation for Strategic Research to Sahlgrenska Center for Cardiovascular and Metabolic Research. SOS has also been supported by research grants to Lars Sjöström from the former Swedish Medical Research Council, Sahlgrenska University Hospital (ALF-grants), Hoffmann-La Roche, AstraZeneca, Cederroths, Johnson & Johnson, Sanofi-Aventis and Ethicon.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular and Clinical Medicine, Institute of Medicine, The Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Gothenburg, Sweden

    L Gripeteg, L Sjöström & K Narbro

  2. Vårdalinstitutet, Lund, Sweden

    L Gripeteg

  3. MRC Human Nutrition Research, Cambridge, UK

    A K Lindroos

  4. Department of Chronic Disease Prevention, Diabetes Prevention Unit, National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland

    M Peltonen

  5. Department of Health Care, Regional Secretariat, Region Västra Götaland, Gothenburg, Sweden

    K Narbro

Authors
  1. L Gripeteg
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  2. A K Lindroos
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  3. M Peltonen
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  4. L Sjöström
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  5. K Narbro
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to K Narbro.

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Competing interests

LS has obtained lecture and consulting fees from AstraZeneca, Biovitrum, BMS, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson & Johnson, Lenimen, Merck, Novo Nordisk, Hoffmann-La Roche, Sanofi-Aventis and Servier, and holds stocks in Lenimen and is chairman of its board. All other authors declared no conflict of interest.

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Gripeteg, L., Lindroos, A., Peltonen, M. et al. Effects of bariatric surgery on disability pension in Swedish obese subjects. Int J Obes 36, 356–362 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/ijo.2011.15

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