London, March 4 (TIWN) Individuals who undergo bariatric surgery or weight-loss surgery may face an elevated risk of bone fractures, say researchers.

The study, published in the Journal of Internal Medicine, included 2,007 Swedish patients with obesity who were treated with weight loss surgery (either gastric bypass, gastric banding, or vertical banded gastroplasty) and 2,040 matched patients who did not undergo surgery.

“Our results show that gastric bypass surgery increases the long-term risk of fracture, both compared with non-surgical obesity care and compared two other bariatric surgery methods used in our study,” said lead author Sofie Ahlin from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden.

For the findings, the research team wanted to investigate the association between different bariatric surgery procedures and fracture risk.

According to the researchers, over a median follow-up of between 15 and 18 years for the different treatment groups, the highest incidence rate for fractures was seen in the gastric bypass group.

Rates were 22.9 per 1,000 person-years in this group, compared with 10.4, 10.7, and 9.3 per 1,000 person-years for the vertical banded gastroplasty, gastric banding, and control groups, respectively, the study said.