The Role of Metabolic Surgery on Blood Pressure Control

Obesity and hypertension are growing epidemics in the modern world. Lifestyle changes and medical treatment for obesity have disappointing long-term results and albeit drugs for hypertension are usually very effective, the necessity of multiple pills and frequent side effects make the adherence to treatment a huge challenge for healthcare systems. Bariatric/metabolic surgery is a very effective treatment and an exponential number of studies have been showing its positive impact beyond weight loss, mainly on type 2 diabetes. There is also growing evidence suggesting that bariatric/metabolic surgery is associated with reduced incidence of cardiovascular events, but the impact on hypertension and other components of metabolic syndrome usually derive from trials' secondary end points. Taking this limitation in mind, bariatric/metabolic surgery action on blood pressure is reaching a significant proportion of hypertension resolution or improvement. In this review, we discussed the current evidence on the impact of bariatric/metabolic surgery on blood pressure control and pointed out perspectives in this research area.