Bariatric surgery in type 2 diabetes

Over a quarter of the adult population in England are now classified as obese (Box 1) and the level is rising rapidly.¹ In parallel with this trend is the increasing prevalence of type 2 diabetes, now standing at 6% of adults, around 2.7 million people in England, a figure predicted to rise to 4 million by 2025.²

The objective of bariatric surgery is to enable weight loss in the morbidly obese when lifestyle and pharmacotherapy have proved ineffective. The application of these procedures to patients with type 2 diabetes has the additional benefit of improving glycaemic control and even inducing remission of diabetes.³