Changes in utilization and peri-operative outcomes of bariatric surgery in large U.S. hospital database, 2011-2014.

BACKGROUND: With the epidemic of morbid obesity, bariatric surgery has been accepted as one of the most effective treatments of obesity.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate recent changes in the utilization of bariatric surgery, patients and hospital characteristics, and in-hospital complications in a nationwide hospital database in the United States.

SETTING: This is a secondary data analysis of the Premier Perspective database.

METHODS: ICD-9 codes were used to identify bariatric surgeries performed between 2011 and 2014. Descriptive statistics were computed and regression was used.

RESULTS: A total of 74,774 bariatric procedures were identified from 436 hospitals between 2011 and 2014. During this time period, the proportion of gastric bypass (from 44.8% to 31.3%; P for trend < 0.0001) and gastric banding (from 22.8% to 5.2%; P for trend < 0.0001) decreased, while the proportion of sleeve gastrectomy (from 13.7% to 56.9%; P for trend < 0.0001) increased substantially. The proportion of bariatric surgery performed for outpatients decreased from 17.15% in 2011 to 8.11% in 2014 (P for trend < 0.0001). The majority of patients undergoing surgery were female (78.5%), white (65.6%), younger than 65 years (93.8%), and insured with managed care (53.6%). In-hospital mortality rate and length of hospital stay remained stable. The majority of surgeries were performed in high-volume (71.8%) and urban (91.6%) hospitals.

CONCLUSIONS: Results based on our study sample indicated that the popularity of various bariatric surgery procedures changed significantly from 2011 to 2014. While the rates of in-hospital complications were stable, disparities in the use of bariatric surgery regarding gender, race, and insurance still exist.