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Observational Study
. 2024;17(1):90-97.
doi: 10.1159/000535729. Epub 2023 Dec 14.

COVID-19 Lockdown and Impact on 2-Year Weight Loss in a Bariatric Center

Telma Moreno  1   2 , Sara Ribeiro  1   2 , Marta Borges-Canha  1   2 , Maria Manuel Silva  1   2 , Fernando Mendonça  1   2 , Helena Urbano Ferreira  1   2 , Juliana Gonçalves  1   2 , Vanessa Guerreiro  1   2 , Inês Meira  1 , João Menino  1 , Sara Gil-Santos  3 , Raquel Calheiros  3 , Catarina Vale  2   4 , Ana Varela  1   2   5 , Selma B Souto  1   2   5 , Jorge Pedro  1   2   5 , Pedro Rodrigues  1 , Eduardo Lima Costa  6   5 , Paula Freitas  1   2   5 , Davide Carvalho  1   2 ; CRIO Group  5
Affiliations
Observational Study

COVID-19 Lockdown and Impact on 2-Year Weight Loss in a Bariatric Center

Telma Moreno et al. Obes Facts. 2024.

Abstract

Introduction: The COVID-19 pandemic has led to a worldwide lockdown, which affected physical exercise habits, as well as having a detrimental effect on psychological health and follow-up visits of patients submitted to bariatric surgery. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on the 2-year weight loss of patients submitted to bariatric surgery in our center.

Methods: This was an observational study comparing the weight loss of patients who underwent bariatric surgery from January to March 2020 with a control group submitted to surgery between January and March 2017. Percentage of total weight loss (% TWL) and excess weight loss (% EWL) were assessed 6, 12, and 24 months after surgery.

Results: A total number of 203 patients were included in this study, 102 had bariatric surgery during the selected period in 2020 and 101 underwent surgery during the same period in 2017. There was no statistically significant difference in weight loss between the 2017 and 2020 groups which was reported as % TWL (mean 27.08 ± 7.530 vs. 28.03 ± 7.074, 33.87 ± 8.507 vs. 34.07 ± 8.979 and 34.13 ± 9.340 vs. 33.98 ± 9.993; p = 0.371) and % EWL (mean 66.83 ± 23.004 vs. 69.71 ± 17.021, 83.37 ± 24.059 vs. 84.51 ± 21.640 and 83.47 ± 24.130 vs. 84.27 ± 23.651; p = 0.506) at 6, 12, and 24 months post-surgery.

Conclusion: Despite social limitations imposed by the COVID-19 lockdown, we found no significant difference between weight loss at 2 years postoperatively in the 2020 group when compared with a control group who underwent bariatric surgery in 2017. These results show that the outcomes of bariatric surgery during the COVID-19 lockdown were comparable with those recorded before the pandemic, supporting the efficacy of bariatric procedures' metabolic effects during the first 2 years after surgery, regardless of lifestyle habits.

Keywords: Bariatric surgery; COVID-19; Weight loss.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
% TWL at 6, 12, and 24 months after BS.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 2.
% TWL at 6, 12, and 24 months by type of surgery.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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