BACKGROUND

The worldwide prevalence of obesity nearly tripled between 1975 and 2016. There are limited data quantifying national trends. The aim of this study is to evaluate and summarize current trends in bariatric surgery in Israel.

METHODS

Data for all bariatric surgeries (BS) performed between January 2014 and December 2018 was collected from the Israel National Bariatric Surgery Registry (INBSR) and analyzed.

RESULTS

During the study period, 42,296 BS were included in the INBSR. Females accounted for 68% and the mean age and body mass index were 41.6 ± 12.6 years and 42.0 ± 5.4 kg/m, respectively. Most of the patients were Jewish, but there was a significant rise in number of Arabs undergoing BS during the study period. There was a gradual decline in the annual numbers of BS, except for a small rise in 2015. There was a significant rise in the rate of One Anastomosis-Mini Gastric Bypass (OAGB-MGB), from 0.1% in 2014 to 46.1% in 2018, making it the most prevalent BS in that year. Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (SG) surgeries decreased steadily, from 80% in 2014 to 37% in 2018. The annual rate of Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) remained essentially constant at 10%. The annual rates of gastric banding decreased sharply and the annual rates of duodenal switch, single anastomosis duodenal switch and biliopancreatic diversion were negligible. Bariatric surgery was distributed evenly between private (50.4%) and public (49.6%) hospitals.

CONCLUSIONS

The numbers of BS are decreasing in Israel. There is a gradual but noticeable shift from SG to OAGB-MGB.