Ophthalmologic Evaluation of Patients With Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome Before and After Bariatric Surgery

Ophthalmologic Evaluation of Patients With Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome Before and After Bariatric Surgery:A Pilot, Monocentric, Prospective, Open-label Study

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.

This was a pilot, monocentric, prospective, and open label study conducted at First Affiliated Hospital of Jinan Universityreceived.Patients with body mass index ≥ 32.5Kg/m2; or patients with body mass index of 27.5-32.5Kg/m2 and metabolic diseases were consecutively recruited.All participants underwent complete ophthalmological evaluation， Keratograph 5M and optical coherence tomography.Patients who underwent bariatric surgery were evaluated also 3 months, 6 months and 1 year after surgery.

Inclusion Criteria:

1. Patients with BMI≥32.5Kg/m2；
2. patients with BMI27.5-32.5Kg/m2, combined with metabolic diseases;

Exclusion Criteria:

1. Patients with pre-existing ocular diseases or visual alterations were excluded to avoid confounding factors related to pre-existing retinal pathology, independent from obesity per se.
2. Patients with dementia, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis or other severe neurological diseases were also excluded since ophthalmologic parameters may be altered in these conditions.
3. Patients with lens opacities that made impossible the posterior segment examination, or with a refractive error > +5 or <-8 diopters spherical equivalent were also excluded.