Predictive factors involving the remission and recurrence of hypertension post-laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy in Japanese patients with severe obesity

Metabolic surgery, including laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG), may improve hypertension (HTN) complicated by severe obesity; however, insufficient deliberation exists regarding the therapeutic effect of post-metabolic surgery on HTN. This study aimed to analyze the factors correlated with HTN remission and recurrence post-LSG in patients who have severe obesity, and to create a classification system to predict HTN remission and recurrence. Of the 102 patients who underwent LSG at Iwate Medical University Hospital between 2008 and 2020, 62 were enrolled in this study. Factors correlated with HTN remission and recurrence post-LSG were retrospectively analyzed. The HTN remission rate 12-months post-LSG was 40.3%. The remission cohort had a lower number of preoperative antihypertensive drugs (ADs) than that of the non-remission cohort (one and two tablets, respectively; p< 0.001). Additionally, the remission cohort had a statistically significantly smaller visceral fat area (VFA) than that of the non-remission cohort, at all time points. Logistic regression analysis revealed that the number of preoperative ADs and VFA were independent predictors of remission. The HTN recurrence rate 36-months post-LSG was 36.0%. In the recurrence cohort, the number of preoperative ADs and VFA were higher and larger than that in the non-recurrence cohort, respectively. Stratification, based on the number of preoperative ADs and VFA, revealed that the HTN remission and recurrence rates in the sub-cohort with a small number of preoperative ADs and small VFA (100% and 16.7%, respectively) were better than those in the sub-cohort with a large number of preoperative ADs and large VFA (5.3% and 100%, respectively). In Japanese patients with severe obesity, the number of preoperative ADs and VFA were correlated with HTN remission and recurrence post-LSG. Stratification, by combining the number of preoperative ADs and VFA, may be useful in predicting HTN remission and recurrence.