Data from: Ophthalmologic evaluation of severely obese patients undergoing bariatric surgery: a pilot, monocentric, prospective, open-label study

Purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the pathogenic role of
obesity on blinding eye diseases in a population of severely obese
patients with no history of eye diseases, and to verify whether weight
loss induced by bariatric surgery may have a protective effect. Methods:
This was a pilot, monocentric, prospective, and open label study conducted
at the University Hospital of Pisa. Fifty-seven severely obese patients
with a mean body mass index value of 44.1 ± 6 kg/m2 were consecutively
recruited and received a complete ophthalmological evaluation and optical
coherence tomography. Twenty-nine patients who underwent gastric bypass
were evaluated also 3 months, and 1 year after surgery. Results: At
baseline, blood pressure value were directly and significantly related to
intraocular pressure values (p<0.05, R = 0.35). Blood pressure
values were also significantly and inversely related to retinal nerve
fiber layer thickness, particularly in the temporal sector (RE
p<0.05 r-0.30; LE p<0.01, R = -0.43). Moreover, minimum
foveal thickness values were significantly and inversely associated with
body mass index (RE p<0.02, R = -0.40; LE p<0.02, R =
-0.30). A significant reduction of body mass index (p<0.05) and a
significant (p<0.05) improvement of blood pressure was observed
three months and one year after gastric bypass, which were significantly
associated with an increase in retinal nerve fiber layer thickness and
minimum foveal thickness values in both eyes (p<0.05). Conclusions:
The results of this study suggest that obese patients may have a greater
susceptibility to develop glaucomatous optic nerve head damage and
age-related macular degeneration. Moreover, weight reduction and
improvement of comorbidities obtained by bariatric surgery may be
effective in preventing eye disease development by improving retinal nerve
fiber layer and foveal thickness.