Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2022 Jul;32(7):1-13.
doi: 10.1007/s11695-022-06067-z. Epub 2022 May 5.

Safety of Bariatric Surgery in ≥ 65-Year-Old Patients During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Rishi Singhal  1   2 , Islam Omar  3 , Brijesh Madhok  4 , Yashasvi Rajeev  5 , Yitka Graham  6   7 , Abd A Tahrani  8   9   10 , Christian Ludwig  11 , Tom Wiggins  12 , Kamal Mahawar  6   13 ; GENEVA Collaborators
Collaborators, Affiliations
Case Reports

Safety of Bariatric Surgery in ≥ 65-Year-Old Patients During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Rishi Singhal et al. Obes Surg. 2022 Jul.

Abstract

Background: Age ≥ 65 years is regarded as a relative contraindication for bariatric surgery. Advanced age is also a recognised risk factor for adverse outcomes with Coronavirus Disease-2019 (COVID-19) which continues to wreak havoc on global populations. This study aimed to assess the safety of bariatric surgery (BS) in this particular age group during the COVID-19 pandemic in comparison with the younger cohort.

Methods: We conducted a prospective international study of patients who underwent BS between 1/05/2020 and 31/10/2020. Patients were divided into two groups - patients ≥ 65-years-old (Group I) and patients < 65-years-old (Group II). The two groups were compared for 30-day morbidity and mortality.

Results: There were 149 patients in Group 1 and 6923 patients in Group II. The mean age, preoperative weight, and BMI were 67.6 ± 2.5 years, 119.5 ± 24.5 kg, and 43 ± 7 in Group I and 39.8 ± 11.3 years, 117.7±20.4 kg, and 43.7 ± 7 in Group II, respectively. Approximately, 95% of patients in Group 1 had at least one co-morbidity compared to 68% of patients in Group 2 (p = < 0.001). The 30-day morbidity was significantly higher in Group I (11.4%) compared to Group II (6.6%) (p = 0.022). However, the 30-day mortality and COVID-19 infection rates were not significantly different between the two groups.

Conclusions: Bariatric surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with a higher complication rate in those ≥ 65 years of age compared to those < 65 years old. However, the mortality and postoperative COVID-19 infection rates are not significantly different between the two groups.

Keywords: Metabolic surgery; Obesity; Older patients; Resuming elective surgery; SARS-CoV-2.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

KM has been paid honoraria by various NHS trusts and Ethicon®, Medtronic®, Gore Inc®, and Olympus® for educational activities related to bariatric surgery. Other authors have no conflicts of interest.

References

    1. Ogden CL, Carroll MD, Kit BK, Flegal KM. Prevalence of childhood and adult obesity in the United States, 2011-2012. JAMA - J Am Med Assoc. 2014;311:806–814. doi: 10.1001/jama.2014.732. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Han TS, Tajar A, Lean MEJ. Obesity and weight management in the elderly. Br Med Bull. 2011;97:169–196. doi: 10.1093/bmb/ldr002. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Sugerman HJ, DeMaria EJ, Kellum JM, Sugerman EL, Meador JG, Wolfe LG. Effects of bariatric surgery in older patients. Ann Surg. 2004;240:243–247. doi: 10.1097/01.sla.0000133361.68436.da. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Meunier H, Le Roux Y, Fiant AL, Marion Y, Bion AL, Gautier T, et al. Does the implementation of enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) guidelines improve outcomes of bariatric surgery? A propensity score analysis in 464 patients. Obes Surg. 2019;29:2843–2853. doi: 10.1007/s11695-019-03943-z. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Mantziari S, Dayer A, Duvoisin C, et al. Long-term weight loss, metabolic outcomes, and quality of life at 10 years after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass are independent of patients’ age at baseline. Obes Surg 2020;30:1181–8. - PubMed

Publication types