Long-term durability of weight loss with bariatric surgery in veterans

Editor's Note

Bariatric surgical patients in the Veterans Administration health care system lost substantially more weight than nonsurgical patients and sustained most of the weight loss in the long term, this study finds.

Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) induced significantly more weight loss than sleeve gastrectomy (SG) or adjustable gastric banding (AGB) at 4 years.

The study included 1,787 RYGB, 5,305 nonsurgical control, 379 SG, and 246 AGB patients.

The results of this study provide further evidence of the beneficial association between surgery and long-term weight loss that has been found in shorter-term studies of younger, predominantly female patients, the authors say.

Importance Bariatric surgery induces significant weight loss for severely obese patients, but there is limited evidence of the durability of weight loss compared with nonsurgical matches and across bariatric procedures.