Background

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) transformed surgical care worldwide. However, a thorough examination of the repercussions of COVID-19 on bariatric patients is lacking. We used the 2021-2022 MBSAQIP database to compare the 30-day outcomes following bariatric surgery between patients with preoperative COVID-19 and those without.

Methods

The new variable, 'Preop COVID-19 Diagnosis' was analyzed in the 2021-2022 MBSAQIP databases. Patients who underwent primary SG and RYGB were included in this study. Using Propensity Score Matching analysis, the cohorts were matched for 23 preoperative characteristics. We then compared 30-day postoperative outcomes between patients with preoperative COVID-19 and those without after SG (analysis 1) and RYGB (analysis 2).

Results

A total of 250,638 patients were included. The matched cohorts in analysis 1 (n= 1,640) and analysis 2 (n= 598) had similar pre-operative characteristics. As shown in Table 1, Propensity-matched outcomes showed that there were no differences in cardiac complications, pulmonary complications, mortality, staple line leak rates, readmissions, reoperations, and ICU admissions. However, the operative time in patients without preoperative COVID-19 was longer after SG (70.57 + 37.56 min vs 69.18 + 34.59 min, p=0.012), and RYGB (125.12 + 57.27 min vs. 117.98 + 45.75 min, p<0.001) compared to patients with preoperative COVID-19.

Conclusions

Patients who underwent bariatric surgery with preoperative COVID-19 have similar 30-day postoperative outcomes compared to patients without preoperative COVID-19 in the post-pandemic period of 2021-2022. These results may imply that nowadays bariatric surgery is a safe procedure in patients with preoperative COVID-19.