Blood Test Could Predict Bariatric Surgery Outcomes in Teenagers

High blood pressure during adolescence increases the risk of lifelong cardiovascular disease, yet doctors still lack reliable tools to predict which young patients will benefit most from obesity treatments. Now, a new study has found that specific molecules in the blood, measured before bariatric surgery, can predict blood pressure outcomes five years later—outperforming current clinical methods. This discovery could transform how physicians personalize treatment for teens undergoing weight-loss surgery.

The Teen Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery (Teen-LABS) study, led by the Keck School of Medicine of USC (Los Angeles, CA, USA) in collaboration with the Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago (Chicago, IL, USA), involved 108 adolescents who participated in the multi-center research initiative tracking long-term outcomes of bariatric surgery in teens. Using “omics” technologies—advanced metabolomics and proteomics that analyze thousands of molecules and proteins circulating in the blood—the researchers identified ten molecules linked to improved blood pressure five years after surgery.

Image: New blood molecules can accurately predict long-term blood pressure outcomes in adolescents after bariatric surgery (Photo courtesy of 123RF)

These molecules provided stronger predictive power than standard risk factors such as age, sex, race, socioeconomic status, and pre-surgery body mass index. Blood samples were collected from each participant before surgery, and blood pressure was measured again five years later. Using a machine learning model, researchers identified key molecular patterns associated with long-term improvement. Of the ten molecules, five were also linked to blood pressure in another cohort of young adults with high BMI but no surgery, confirming the broader relevance of these biomarkers.

The findings, published in Hypertension, represent an important step toward precision medicine, demonstrating how omics-based biomarkers could predict health outcomes more accurately than traditional blood tests. This approach may allow doctors to tailor surgical and non-surgical treatments to each patient’s biology, improving long-term outcomes. The research also underscores the value of cross-institutional collaboration between epidemiologists, surgeons, and data scientists.

The team now plans to expand its research to see whether omics biomarkers can predict other post-surgery outcomes, such as improvements in diabetes and kidney function. They also aim to study how chemical exposures, including PFAS, affect long-term recovery. By identifying which adolescents are most likely to benefit from bariatric surgery, clinicians can better select candidates and offer alternative treatments for those less likely to respond.

“This is the first time blood-based biomarkers have been identified that predict which adolescents are most likely to experience improvements in blood pressure after bariatric surgery,” said Thomas H. Inge, MD, PhD, surgeon-in-chief at Lurie Children’s Hospital and professor of surgery at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.

Related Links:
Keck School of Medicine of USC
Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago