Background: Obesity is a known risk factor for many cancers. Although bariatric surgery has been associated with a decrease in the risk of developing cancer, data on the effect of bariatric surgery on female-specific cancers are limited. This study aimed to assess the impact of bariatric interventions on the development of endometrial, ovarian and breast cancer.
Methods: The New York Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System database was used to identify all female patients without a pre-existing cancer diagnosis who had a diagnosis of obesity between 2006 and 2012. The risk of having female-specific cancer diagnosis in patients who underwent bariatric surgery were compared with those who had no bariatric interventions using multivariable proportional sub-distribution hazard regression analysis. Subsequent cancer diagnoses were followed up to 2016.
Results: We identified 55,781 and 247,102 obese female patients who had and did not have bariatric surgery, respectively. The overall incidence of female-specific cancer was 2.69% and 2.09% for the non-surgery and surgery groups, respectively (p < 0.0001). Surgery patients were less likely to develop female-specific cancers [hazard ratio (HR) 0.78; 95% CI 0.73-0.83; p < 0.0001]. Patients undergoing Roux-en-Y gastric bypass had a lower risk of developing female-specific cancer than laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (HR 0.66; 95% CI 0.51-0.87; p = 0.0056) and laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (HR 0.83; 95% CI 0.69-0.99; p = 0.0056) patients.
Conclusions: Patients undergoing bariatric surgery have a lower incidence of endometrial, female breast and ovarian cancer than non-surgery obese patients. These data suggest that bariatric interventions may reduce the risk of female-specific cancers.
Keywords: Bariatric surgery; Endometrial cancer; Female breast cancer; Obesity; Ovarian cancer.