A new research presented at the American Epilepsy Society (AES) 2021 Annual Meeting suggests that bariatric surgery is tied to a significantly increased risk for epilepsy.

In order to assess the link, investigators identified 16,958 adult patients from linked databases at the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences (ICES) who underwent bariatric surgery from July 2010 to December 2016. Data were also analyzed for 622,514 obese patients who had not undergone the surgery. The study participants were followed till December 31, 2019 for new-onset epilepsy. A total of 73 (0.4%) participants who underwent bariatric surgery developed epilepsy (50.1 per 100,000 person-years). The risk for epilepsy was significantly raised among subjects who underwent bariatric surgery compared to those who didn′t (hazard ratio [HR] 1.45)... (Medscape)