Professor of Pharmacoepidemiology and Pharmacoeconomics University of Cincinnati College of Pharmacy Cincinnati, United States
Background: Although bariatric surgery has evolved over the past 20 years, it is still difficult to estimate how often it is used among the expanding eligible population.
Objectives: Using real-world data; this study attempted to update trends in the use of bariatric surgery, changes in the types of procedures carried out, and the characteristics of patients who underwent bariatric surgery in the US.
Methods: From 2012 to 2021, a cross-sectional study of adult patients who had undergone bariatric surgery was carried out using TriNetX, a federated electronic medical records network. The demographics and characteristics of the patients were assessed using descriptive statistics. Annual secular trend analyses were conducted for the annual rate of bariatric surgery, and the specific procedural types and proportions of laparoscopic surgeries.
Results: The number of procedures carried out in the US increased steadily for the first six years of the study, then plateaued for the following two years before declining in 2020 and 2021. (during the coronavirus-19 pandemic). The annual rate of bariatric surgery was 59.2 per 100,000 adults in 2012 at its lowest and 79.6 in 2018 at its highest. Between 96.2% and 98.8% of procedures carried out annually during the study period were done laparoscopically as opposed to the open technique. Beginning in 2012, the Roux-en-Y (RYGB) procedure declined to represent only 17.1% of cases in 2018, while the adjustable gastric band (AGB) procedure saw a dramatic fall and was replaced by the sleeve gastrectomy (SG) procedure, which accounts for over 74% of cases in 2018.
Conclusions: Utilization of bariatric surgery in the US showed a moderate decline in RYGB procedures, which was countered by a significant rise in SG procedures and a sharp decline in the annual number of AGB procedures.
