Both gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy have similar rates of complications and death: JAMA

Complication and death rates were similar for both gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy when researchers compared the two weight-loss surgeries in adolescents covered by Medicaid.

Sleeve gastrectomy is a type of weight-loss surgery that involves removing part of the stomach and gastric bypass is a type of bariatric surgery in which stomach is divided into pouches through surgery.Prospective observational studies have found that sleeve gastrectomy and gastric bypass resulted in significant weight loss and low complication rates in adolescents with severe obesity.

University of Michigan researchers have found in a new study that Both gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy have similar rates  of complications, death and subsequent surgery.

The analysis has been published in JAMA.

The researchers evaluated comparative health care use and adverse events up to 5 years after bariatric surgery in adolescents insured by Medicaid.All the patients studied had Medicaid, the largest health insurance provider for those under the age of 19 in the United States.

"Prior research had found that sleeve gastrectomy and gastric bypass resulted in significant weight loss and low complication rates in adolescents with severe obesity," said Ryan Howard, M.D., a general surgery resident at University of Michigan Health. "But the comparative outcomes of these two procedures, which might help inform health insurance policy and decision-making, had yet to be explored for adolescents insured by Medicaid."

The researchers identified just over 1,110 patients who had undergone one of the two weight-loss surgeries between 2012 and 2018, a relatively small number compared to the more than 95,000 patients covered by Medicare who had either gastric bypass or a sleeve gastrectomy in the same time period.

Howard says the disparity could be due to access issues or concerns about bariatric surgery as a weight-loss treatment for youth.

Reference:

Howard R, Yang J, Thumma J, et al. Health Care Use and Adverse Events After Sleeve Gastrectomy and Gastric Bypass Among Adolescents With Severe Obesity Insured by Medicaid. JAMA. 2022;328(19):1972–1974. doi:10.1001/jama.2022.14843