02 Sep Most Gastric Bypass Patients Keep Weight Off After Surgery

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Dr. Matt Maciejewski

Matthew Leonard Maciejewski, PhD
Professor in the Division of General Internal Medicine
Department of Medicine
Duke University School of Medicine
Research Career Scientist and Director of the Health Economics and Policy Unit in the Center for Health Services Research in Primary Care
Durham VA Medical Center

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings?

Response: No study based on a US cohort undergoing current procedures has examined weight change comparing surgical patients and nonsurgical patients for as long as we have. This is the first study to report 10-year outcomes on gastric bypass patients and compare them to matched patients who did not get surgery. At 1 year, gastric bypass patients lost 31% of their baseline weight compared controls who only lost 1.1% of their baseline weight. At 10 years, gastric bypass had lost 28% of their baseline weight.

We also compared weight loss at 4 years for Veterans who received the 3 most common procedures (gastric bypass, sleeve gastrectomy, and adjustable gastric banding). At 4 years, patients undergoing gastric bypass lost more weight than patients undergoing sleeve gastrectomy or gastric banding. Given that few high quality studies have examined sleeve gastrectomy to 4 years, the 4-year sleeve outcomes contribute to filling this important evidence gap as the sleeve gastrectomy is now the most commonly performed bariatric procedure worldwide.

MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?

Response: This study suggests that the vast majority of patients interested in bariatric surgery, especially gastric bypass, should be able to lose a significant amount of weight with gastric bypass and keep that weight off for a very long time.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a result of this study?

Response: It will be important to be able to examine 10-year weight change among patients undergoing sleeve gastrectomy and compare their weight loss to non-surgical matches at 10 years. In addition to this weight change analysis, we are examining long-term VA health care costs of surgical patients and nonsurgical matches. In the next couple of years, we hope to examine other outcomes that have not been extensively studied, including long-term mental health outcomes that are particularly relevant to Veterans.

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Last Updated on September 2, 2016 by Marie Benz MD FAAD