More than ten years ago, a group of teens underwent bariatric surgery as part of a study to track the effects of weight-loss surgery on the long-term health of obese adolescents.

Now, a follow-up to that study, the Teen-Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery — Teen-LABS — makes clear that bariatric surgery for teens offers health benefits that can carry over into adulthood.

Weight-loss surgery is recommended nationally, but surprisingly few teens and their families opt for it. Only one out of every 2,500 teens with severe obesity undergoes the procedure. One reason may be that parents of overweight kids are either in denial about the problem or believe it will go away as their child matures. Cost is likely a factor, too, though given the health risk associated with obesity, some plans may cover such surgeries.

Fifty-five percent of the participants who had type 2 diabetes as teenagers and underwent surgery were still in remission of their diabetes at 10 years.

Hillary Fisher participated in the Teen-LABS study when she was 16. Now 31, she remains happy about her decision to have bariatric surgery: “I was crushed by the daily issues I faced due to my weight, health problems and bullying in high school. After many unsuccessful attempts to lose weight, at 260 pounds, we decided bariatric surgery was the answer. It changed my life…the improved health and self-esteem that came with the 100-pound weight loss were important to me and I would certainly do it again.”

Investigators analyzing the outcomes of 260 patients 10 years after the bariatric surgery they had as teenagers at 13 to 19 years of age found that the teens' body mass index (BMI) declined by 20 percent.

“Our study presents impressive outcomes of the longest follow-up of weight-loss surgery during adolescence, which validates bariatric surgery as a safe and effective long-term obesity management strategy,” lead author Justin Ryder, Vice Chair of Research for the Department of Surgery at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago and Associate Professor of Surgery and Pediatrics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, said in a statement.

“The fascinating part is that when we use these operations in teenagers, the remission of health conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure are more durable than when operations are done later in adulthood,” offered the Principal Investigator of the Teen-LABS study, Thomas Inge, also the Surgeon-in-Chief at Lurie Children's.

“It changed my life…the improved health and self-esteem that came with the 100-pound weight loss were important to me and I would certainly do it again.”

Fifty-five percent of the participants who had type 2 diabetes as teenagers and underwent surgery were still in remission of their diabetes at 10 years. “This is considerably better than the outcomes reported in people who underwent bariatric surgery as adults, a major reason why treating obesity seriously in adolescents is so important,” added Ryder. In fact, type 2 diabetes remission was seen in only 12 to 18 percent of the adults seven to 12 years after bariatric surgery in a recent study.

The study is published in the New England Journal of Medicine.