Three-year weight outcomes from a bariatric surgery registry in a large integrated healthcare system.

BACKGROUND

A registry was created for patients having procedures for weight loss from 2004 to the present time at a large integrated healthcare system. The objective of this study was to compare findings to the literature and national quality monitoring databases and present 3-year weight loss outcomes.

METHODS

Patients are passively enrolled in the registry with the following characteristics: a bariatric procedure for weight loss after January 1, 2004 and actively enrolled in the health plan at the time of surgery.

RESULTS

Compared to national surgical quality databases, the registry (n = 20,296) has a similar proportion of Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB; 58%), more vertical sleeve gastrectomy (SG; 40%), fewer banding (2%) procedures, more Hispanic patients (35%), and higher rates of 1 year follow-up (78%). RYGB patients lost more weight at every time point up to 3 years after surgery compared with SG patients (P<.001). Non-Hispanic white RYGB patients had a higher percent excess weight loss than non-Hispanic black (P<.001) and Hispanic (P<.001) RYGB patients. There were no differences between SG racial/ethnic groups in percent excess weight loss throughout the 3-year follow-up period.

CONCLUSION

We are one of the first groups to publish comparison weight outcomes for RYGB and SG in a diverse patient population, showing that the responses to RYGB and not SG vary by race/ethnicity.