Roberto Simons-Linares, MD: The Importance of Bariatric Surgery

New research indicates positive outcomes are much more likely following bariatric surgery for patients with obesity hospitalized with myocardial infarction.

In data presented at Digestive Disease Week (DDW) 2022, investigators from the Cleveland Clinic found improved outcomes with lower inpatient mortality and multi-organ failure for this patient population compared to a cohort of patients who did not have bariatric surgery.

Led by Roberto Simons-Linares, MD, Cleveland Clinic, the team found inpatient mortality rates were lower in patients with history of bariatric surgery (0.8% vs 2.3%; P = .001) from a patient population of 290,450 (weighted) hospitalizations, 3805 of which had a history of bariatric surgery.

Simons-Linares and colleagues investigated the inpatient mortality of those with obesity hospitalized with MI and compared those with a history of bariatric surgery, compared to patients with no history of bariatric surgery.

In this episode of DocTalk, Simons-Linares discusses the new data and how important it is to have some options for patients with obesity in order to drive down mortality and the rates of other associated diseases like type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Simons-Linares also said while obesity rates were increasing prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the events of the last 2 years only exacerbated the problem.