Preoperative Beta Cell Function Is Predictive of Diabetes Remission After Bariatric Surgery

Bariatric surgery can improve glucose metabolism in obese patients with diabetes, but the factors that can predict diabetes remission are still under discussion. The present study aims to examine the impact of preoperative beta cell function on diabetes remission following surgery.

We investigated a cohort of 363 obese diabetic patients who underwent bariatric surgery. The impact of several preoperative beta cell function indexes on diabetes remission was explored through bivariate logistic regression models.

Postoperative diabetes remission was achieved in 39.9 % of patients. Younger patients (p < 0.001) and those with lower HbA1c (p = 0.001) at the baseline evaluation had higher odds of diabetes remission. Use of oral anti-diabetics and insulin therapy did not reach statistical significance when they were adjusted for age and HbA1c. Among the evaluated indexes of beta cell function, higher values of insulinogenix index, Stumvoll first- and second-phase indexes, fasting C-peptide, C-peptide area under the curve (AUC), C-peptide/glucose AUC, ISR (insulin secretion rate) AUC, and ISR/glucose AUC predicted diabetes remission even after adjustment for age and HbA1c. Among them, C-peptide AUC had the higher discriminative power (AUC 0.76; p < 0.001).

Patients' age and preoperative HbA1c can forecast diabetes remission following surgery. Unlike other studies, our group found that the use of oral anti-diabetics and insulin therapy were not independent predictors of postoperative diabetes status. Preoperative beta cell function, mainly C-peptide AUC, is useful in predicting diabetes remission, and it should be assessed in all obese diabetic patients before bariatric or metabolic surgery.