Lower 5-Year All-Cause Mortality After Bariatric Surgery

Several observational studies have shown lower mortality in patients who undergo bariatric surgery, but adjustment for potentially confounding variables and analysis of subgroups has been limited. Using public health databases, investigators identified 13,000 patients who underwent bariatric surgery in Ontario, Canada, between 2010 and 2016 (81% women; mean age, 45; mean body-mass index [BMI], 47 kg/m²); each patient was matched by age, sex, BMI, and diabetes status with a patient who was eligible for surgery but did not undergo it. Following local guidelines, 87% of bariatric surgeries were gastric bypasses, and 13% were sleeve gastrectomies.

At 5-year follow-up, significantly fewer deaths had occurred in the surgical group than in controls…