Elshaer, Ahmed

Abstract Background Patients with heart failure possess an increased risk for adverse outcomes with noncardiac surgery (1). While bariatric surgery is frequently performed in patients with obesity, there remains a limited understanding of the impact of bariatric surgery in obese patients with heart failure. Purpose The purpose of this study was to compare outcomes of bariatric surgery versus nonsurgical management in obese patients with heart failure. Methods We searched PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library, through February 2024, for studies evaluating outcomes in obese patients with heart failure who underwent bariatric surgery compared to nonsurgical management. Outcomes assessed were postoperative atrial fibrillation, all-cause mortality, and hospital readmission. We used a fixed-effect model to calculate hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) in R studio for outcomes assessed. In outcomes where significant heterogeneity was found (P< 0.05 and I2 > 60%), a random effects model was used. Results A total of 3 studies were identified, consisting of 260,186 patients. Compared to nonsurgical management, bariatric surgery was associated with a significant reduction in postoperative atrial fibrillation (HR 0.72; 95% CI: 0.62-0.84), all-cause mortality (HR 0.50; 95%CI 0.35-0.72), and hospital readmission (HR 0.73; 95% CI 0.69-0.78) in obese patients with heart failure. Conclusion Our study suggests that bariatric surgery significantly reduces post-operative atrial fibrillation, mortality, and hospital readmission among obese patients with heart failure.Our findings demonstrate that bariatric surgery should be considered as a viable intervention in obese patients with heart failure. Further studies are warranted to confirm our findings.Forest Plots of Outcomes Assessed

New Findings What is the central question of this study? Do humans with high‐affinity haemoglobin (HAH) demonstrate attenuated skeletal muscle deoxygenation during normoxic and hypoxic exercise? What is the main finding and its importance? Examination of near‐infrared spectroscopy‐derived muscle oxygenation profiles suggests that fractional oxygen extraction is blunted during hypoxic exercise in humans with HAH compared with control subjects. However, muscle tissue oxygen saturation levels were higher in humans with HAH during exercise in normoxia compared with control subjects. These alterations in fractional oxygen extraction in humans with HAH might influence blood flow regulation and exercise capacity during hypoxia. AbstractRecently, researchers in our laboratory have shown that humans with genetic mutations resulting in high‐affinity haemoglobin (HAH) demonstrate better maintained aerobic capacity and peak power output during hypoxic exercise versus normoxic exercise in comparison to humans with normal‐affinity haemoglobin. However, the influence of HAH on tissue oxygenation within exercising muscle during normoxia and hypoxia is unknown. Therefore, we examined near‐infrared spectroscopy‐derived oxygenation profiles of the vastus lateralis during graded cycling exercise in normoxia and hypoxia among humans with HAH (n = 5) and control subjects with normal‐affinity haemoglobin (n = 12). The HAH group elicited a blunted increase of deoxygenated haemoglobin + myoglobin during hypoxic exercise compared with the control group (P = 0.03), suggesting reduced fractional oxygen extraction in the HAH group. In addition, the HAH group maintained a higher level of muscle tissue oxygen saturation during normoxic exercise (HAH, 75 ± 4% vs. controls, 65 ± 3%, P = 0.049) and there were no differences between groups in muscle tissue oxygen saturation during hypoxic exercise (HAH, 68 ± 3% vs. controls, 68 ± 2%, P = 0.943). Overall, our results suggest that humans with HAH might demonstrate divergent patterns of fractional oxygen extraction during hypoxic exercise and elevated muscle tissue oxygenation during normoxic exercise compared with control subjects.