Saturday 22 September 2012

Follow-up costs of bariatric surgery

There's an article in JAMA about the costs of care in those who have bariatric surgery. This Swedish cohort looked at 20 years' of follow-up after obesity surgery.

It seems that the costs for the first 6 years are higher in those that are surgically treated - more days spent in hospital, more outpatient visits - but after that the costs of care were in fact lower in the surgically treated group.

The authors conclude - "surgically treated patients used more inpatient and nonprimary outpatient care during the first 6-year period after undergoing bariatric surgery but not thereafter. Drug costs from years 7 through 20 were lower for surgery patients than for control patients."

Although the procedure used in these patients was different to that used now this data helps with the planning of ongoing care of people undergoing obesity surgery.

1. Neovius M, Narbro K, Keating C, Peltonen M, Sjöholm K, Agren G, Sjöström L, Carlsson L. Health care use during 20 years following bariatric surgery. JAMA 2012 Sep;308(11):1132–1141.

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