Is laparoscopic bariatric surgery as safe and effective before and after age 60? Results from a propensity-score analysis.

BACKGROUND

Patients over 60 years old undergoing bariatric surgery is still increasing.

OBJECTIVES

First, to assess the impact of age (>60 years) on the 90-day morbidity and mortality of both laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGB) and sleeve gastrectomy (LSG), and second, to determine the effectiveness of surgical weight loss and resolution of obesity-related comorbidities for patients 60 years of age and older over a 2-year period.

SETTING

Bicentric study from University Hospital of Caen and Memorial Hospital of Saint Lô, France.

METHODS

This is a retrospective review of a prospectively maintained database of patients with morbid obesity undergoing laparoscopic bariatric surgery from October 2005 to April 2019. Patients 60 years of age and older were defined as cases (elderly group [EG], n = 137), and patients younger than 60 years of age were defined as controls (young group [YG], n = 1544). The primary endpoint of the study was the prevalence of severe postoperative complications within 90 days of surgery determined by a propensity-score-matching (PSM) analysis.

RESULTS

The PSM population included 133 patients in the EG who were matched 1:2 with 266 patients in the YG. There was no mortality in either group. Although not significant (with an absolute difference of 4.5% between the EG and the YG), the odds of severe postoperative complications were 2.5 times higher in the EG than in the YG (7.5% versus 3.0%, P = .053). At 90 days postoperatively, the prevalences of overall morbidity (31.6% versus 22.9%, P = .044), leakage (5.3% versus 1.1%, P = .026), and reoperation (5.3% versus 1.1%, P = .026) were significantly higher in the EG than in the YG.

CONCLUSION

This propensity-matched study suggests that laparoscopic bariatric surgery is probably an effective treatment in obese elderly patients (EPs) in terms of weight loss and resolution of comorbidities. However, the EP should be warned of the increased risk of severe postoperative complications within 90 days, including leakage and reoperation rates, especially after RYGB.