Background

Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) is associated with a favorable nutritional status in the elderly population with obesity. However, long-term outcomes of revisional RYGB in a specific patient population aged 60 years and older are not well elucidated. This study aimed to report the long-term (5-year) nutritional changes and vitamin deficiencies in patients who underwent revisional RYGB at the age of 60 and older.

Methods

A retrospective single-center review was conducted for patients aged > 60 years undergoing revisional/conversional RYGB between 2008-2023. Patient demographics, type of primary procedures, and nutritional outcomes were reported at baseline and after 5 years of surgery. We collected values of specific nutritional parameters such as creatinine, vitamin B12, vitamin D3, cholesterol, glucose, hemoglobin, albumin, calcium, and ferritin. A unpaired t-test was used to compare parameter means at baseline and at 5 years.

Results

A total of 84 patients (81% female, mean age 67.0 +- 4.8, mean preoperative BMI 35.8 +- 9.9) were included. The most commonly performed primary procedure was RYGB (39.3%) followed by vertical banded gastroplasty (VBG) (21.4%). The most common indication for revision was complications from the primary procedure (Table 1). There were no statistical differences for all the evaluated laboratory parameters between baseline and 5-year mean values (Figure 1). In our cohort, we reported no statistically significant vitamin deficiencies 5 years after revisional RYGB.

Conclusions

Revisional RYGB demonstrates excellent 5-year nutritional outcomes in patients aged 60 years and older, without any reported nutritional deficiencies. Further studies are required to validate our findings.