Three-Year Risks and Benefits of Bariatric Surgery

Significant weight loss occurs, but long-term clinical and quality-of-life outcomes are still unknown.

A longitudinal, multisite, U.S. study of bariatric surgery showed that perioperative complications were more common in 1738 patients who underwent laparoscopic or open Roux-en-Y gastric bypass than in 610 patients who underwent laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (NEJM JW Gen Med Jul 30 2009). Investigators now report longer-term results of this study of adult patients (mean age, 46; mean baseline body-mass index, 46 kg/m²; 79% women).

At 3 years after surgery, mean weight loss for bypass patients was 31.5% of baseline body weight and for banding patients was 15.9%; most weight loss occurred during the first year. About two thirds of bypass patients who had diabetes at baseline had at least partial remission, compared with one quarter of…

Reviewing Author

Thomas L. Schwenk, MD

Disclosures

Editorial BoardsUpToDate

Thomas L. Schwenk, MD

Disclosures

Editorial BoardsUpToDate

Three-Year Risks and Benefits of Bariatric Surgery

Topics

Reviewing Author