Study: Preoperative weight loss offers little benefit for bariatric surgery patients

Editor's Note

Research shows perioperative weight loss does not consistently improve outcomes or OR times in patients undergoing primary bariatric procedures, including laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) and laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB). The findings were published in the June issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons.

Using the 2021 MBSAQIP dataset, the retrospective cohort study segmented 171,010 patients into 4 weight loss groups: no weight loss, 0-5% weight loss, 5-10% weight loss, and more than 10% weight loss. Among all groups, patients with BMI less than 50 kg/m2 showed “no consistent improvement” in surgical outcomes, although the 0-5% group showed fewer intra- and post-operative occurrences after RYGB and reduced reoperation rates after LSG. For patients with BMI of 50 kg/m2 or more, weight loss consistently improved reintervention after LSG and readmission after RYGB, but no improvement in other outcomes.

“Overall, these data do not support a uniform policy of preoperative weight loss, although selective use in some high-risk patients may be appropriate,” the study concludes.