Background

Background: Preoperative weight loss has been observed to be a predictor of post-operative weight loss success following bariatric surgery. Studies have reported that minorities have overall worse outcomes following bariatric procedures. Aim: To determine if there is racial disparity in preoperative weight loss before bariatric surgery.

Methods

A retrospective cohort study using the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program(MBSAQIP) database from 2015-2018 of patients who underwent primary laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy and laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. Patient demographics and outcomes were analyzed. Main study outcomes were preoperative weight and BMI loss as defined by the differences between the highest preoperative measurement and the preoperative measurement closest to procedure.

Results

A total of 556,956 patients were included. White non-Hispanics were overall the oldest. Black non-Hispanics had the highest, and Asians had the lowest preoperative weight and BMI both overall and closest to procedure. White non-Hispanics had the highest mean preoperative weight loss of 5.65kg(SD 7.95) and BMI loss of 2.13(SD 2.36). Black Hispanics had the lowest mean preoperative weight loss of 3.91kg(SD 5.25) and BMI loss of 1.50(SD 1.88). Black non-Hispanics experienced the highest proportion of all complications within 30 days(7.8%). These differences were statistically significant (p<0.01)(Table1).

Conclusions

We observed significant racial disparity in pre-operative weight loss before bariatric surgery, however this did not correlate with 30-day complication rates. Targeted interventions towards improving accessible outpatient resources may be one effective method to improve the racial disparity in long term outcomes after bariatric surgery.