For patients with severe obesity, bariatric surgery may reduce the risk of hospitalization and death from COVID-19, according to a study published in Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases.
The retrospective analysis compared outcomes between patients with COVID-19 and a history of bariatric surgery to a matched control cohort of patients with COVID-19 who were eligible for, but with no history of, bariatric surgery. The researchers used a 1:4 cases-to-controls matching ratio based on age and sex.
“Bariatric surgery is an incredibly safe procedure that provides lasting benefits for patients with severe obesity. And now we show that it can also improve the respiratory and inflammatory factors that likely put patients with obesity at increased risk of severe COVID-19.”
Megan Jenkins, MD
Among other improved outcomes, prior bariatric surgery was shown to significantly decrease the risk of emergency department admission, mechanical ventilation, prolonged ICU stay, and death after COVID-19 diagnosis. Led by investigators Megan Jenkins, MD, clinical assistant professor of surgery, and Christine J. Ren-Fielding, MD, chief of the Division of Bariatric Surgery, the study suggests that protection against COVID-19 may be an extended benefit of bariatric surgery in this vulnerable patient population.
“Bariatric surgery is an incredibly safe procedure that provides lasting benefits for patients with severe obesity. And now we show that it can also improve the respiratory and inflammatory factors that likely put patients with obesity at increased risk of severe COVID-19,” Dr. Jenkins says.
