Problems with alcohol after weight-loss surgery in adolescence

CHICAGO [US]: The first study to demonstrate long-term alcohol consumption and associated problems in this cohort found that youth who underwent metabolic and bariatric surgery as teenagers are more likely to drink alcohol.

After eight years, researchers discovered that over half of the study participants had alcohol use disorders, signs of alcohol-related damage, or issues. Results were released in the Annals of Surgery publication.

"The increased alcohol use we found in this study surpasses that expected from others in this age group in the general population," said study author and principal investigator Thomas Inge, MD, PhD, Surgeon-in-Chief and Director of Adolescent Bariatric Surgery Program at Ann & Robert H.

Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, as well as Professor of Surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. "We also know the anatomic changes after surgery result in increased sensitivity to alcohol, so that ounce for ounce, greater effects and consequences of alcohol intake are seen after these operations." The multicenter study included 217 participants (aged 13-19 years) who reported alcohol use before metabolic and bariatric surgery and annually following surgery for up to eight years.

During the postoperative period, Dr Inge and colleagues found an eight-fold increase in potentially hazardous drinking, a five-fold increase in symptoms of alcohol-related harm and a 13-fold increase in alcohol-related problems.

"The persistent and concerning pattern of alcohol use in the years after surgery emphasizes the need to integrate screening, education, and guidance around alcohol use into the routine primary care for adolescents who have had surgery," said Dr Inge, who also holds the Lydia J. Fredrickson Board Designated Professorship in Pediatric Surgery.