Effect of Bariatric Surgery on High-Density Lipoprotein (HDL) Cholesterol in Non-diabetic Patients with Severe Obesity.

BACKGROUND

This study evaluated changes in serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) induced by laparoscopic bariatric surgery (BS) in non-diabetic obese subjects with low (L-HDL-C) or normal (N-HDL-C) levels of HDL-C. We assessed whether increased HDL-C is associated with weight loss, serum non-HDL cholesterol (non-HDL-C), serum triglycerides (TG), and physical activity (PA) before and 6 and 15 months after BS.

METHODS

In this prospective cohort study, 71 subjects undergoing BS (42 by Roux-en-Y gastric bypass and 29 by sleeve gastrectomy) were evaluated for the % Excess Weight Loss (%EWL), waist circumference (WC), serum levels of glucose, glycosylated hemoglobin, TG, HDL-C, non-HDL-C, and LDL-C, and the degree, time, and energy expenditure related to PA. The short version of the International Physical Activity Questionnaire was used to assess PA.

RESULTS

Levels of HDL-C significantly increased 15 months after BS (p < 0.001) in subjects with low (p < 0.001) or normal (p = 0.017) values at baseline. A similar %EWL, decrease in WC, glucose, non-HDL-C, and LDL-C levels and increase in energy expenditure related to PA, was observed in both groups (L-HDL-C and N-HDL-C) at 15 months after BS. However, the L-HDL-C group presented greater decrease in TG levels compared with N-HDL-C group (p = 0.004). In subjects with increased HDL-C 15 months after BS, there was an association between this increase and the %EWL (p = 0.030), but there was no association with the change in PA.

CONCLUSIONS

Irrespective of PA after BS, subjects with low and normal HDL-C levels at baseline showed an increase in HDL-C after BS, and this increase was associated with %EWL induced by BS.