Risk of Alcohol Use Disorder After Sleeve Gastrectomy.

Several studies demonstrated increased alcohol intake after gastric bypass but not for laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG). The purpose of this study is to determine whether there is an increased risk of developing alcohol use disorder after LSG. LSG patients with at least 1-year follow-up who completed the alcohol use disorder identification test (AUDIT) preoperatively, and at their control visit, were the subjects. AUDIT was applied to the patients who were followed up from 1 to 6 years postoperatively. Patients were divided into two groups as those who were followed for 1-3 years and 4-6 years. AUDIT scores and risk categories were compared. According to the AUDIT results, score intervals between 0-7, 8-15, 16-19 and 20-40 identified patients with low, moderate, high risk, and alcoholism, respectively. There were 183 LSG patients eligible for inclusion. An AUDIT score of 2.79 before LSG showed prominent reduction in alcohol use in the first 3 years after LSG with a score of 2.27 ( = .033). At 4-6 years follow-up, AUDIT scores showed significant increase from 3.06 to 4.04, suggesting an increase in alcohol use in the long term ( = .042). In addition, the increase of risk after surgery in pre-LSG moderate-risk category ( = 21) turned out to be higher than pre-LSG low-risk category ( = 162). This study showed reduction in AUDIT scores in the first 3-year follow-up after LSG and increase in the 4-6 years follow-up. High pre-LSG AUDIT score, a potential risk for future alcohol use disorder, was one of the key findings of our study. Screening of LSG candidates before and after surgery by AUDIT scoring according to risk categories with larger samples will provide useful input for relevant guidelines.