Medication use before and after bariatric surgery: 5-year results from a randomised controlled trial of banded Roux-en-Y gastric bypass versus sleeve gastrectomy in patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes.

AIM: Bariatric surgery is an effective tool for weight loss and for improving weight related co-morbidities. Changes in medication usage after a silastic ring laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (SR-LRYGB) compared with laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) are unknown.

METHODS: This was a single-centre, double-blind, randomised controlled trial. Patients were randomised to either SR-LRYGB or LSG. A medication history was obtained at regular follow-up intervals, and mean numbers of prescribed medications were analysed over 5 years. Poisson regression and generalised estimating equations were used to test for statistically significant changes in usage.

RESULTS: After eight patients were lost to follow-up, data from 52 patients in each group were available for analysis. There was no difference between the SR-LRYGB or LSG groups in the number of medications prescribed, with the exception of oral glucose-lowering medications, where there was a greater decrease after SR-LRYGB compared to LSG (79% vs 55% respectively) from baseline to 5 years. At 5 years, total medication prescribed was down 10% from pre-operative levels. Prescribed insulin decreased by 72%, and cardiovascular medication decreased by 56% compared to baseline. Prescriptions for analgesia increased by 50%, psychiatric medications by 133% and proton-pump inhibitors by 81%.

CONCLUSION: Both SR-LRYGB and LSG reduced requirement for diabetic and cardiovascular medications, but increased requirement for nutritional supplementation, analgesia and psychiatric medications. There was a greater reduction in oral anti-diabetic medication prescriptions following SR-LRYGB compared to LSG, but no other difference in medication usage between surgical groups was found.