Background

Background: Perioperative COVID-19 diagnosis may increase the risks associated with elective surgery, including bariatric surgery. Objective: To evaluate the association between COVID-19 diagnosis and 30-day outcomes following primary sleeve gastrectomy (SG) and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB).

Methods

We queried the MBSAQIP database for patients undergoing primary laparoscopic SG (CPT 43775) or RYGB (CPT 43644) in 2021 and compared 30-day outcomes between patients with and without a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis within 14 days before surgery. We also compared patients with and without a confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis within 30 days after surgery. Logistic regression analyses controlling for age, sex, and race were performed for postoperative outcomes.

Results

COVID-19 infection before surgery was associated with a higher mortality risk (0.68% vs. 0.05%; OR: 6.01) for RYGB but not for SG (Table 1). COVID-19 infection after SG was associated with higher risks of mortality (0.39% vs. 0.05%; OR: 8.19), sepsis (OR: 6.89), acute renal failure (OR: 9.76), blood transfusion (OR: 2.07), reoperation (OR: 2.97), readmission (OR: 6.24), intervention (OR: 2.25), and ED visit (OR: 5.22). For RYGB, postoperative COVID-19 infection was associated with higher risks of sepsis (OR: 6.70), ventilator support > 48hours (OR: 9.54), readmission (OR: 5.24), intervention (OR: 2.38), and ED visit (OR: 4.73) (Table 2).

Conclusions

Laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 diagnosis either up to 14 days before or up to 30 days following primary bariatric surgery is associated with significantly higher mortality in the 30 days following surgery.