Among COVID-19-positive adults, outcomes better for those with prior bariatric surgery versus those eligible for bariatric surgery<\/p>\n<\/h3>\n
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WEDNESDAY, Nov. 17, 2021 (HealthDay News) — Bariatric surgery may protect against severe COVID-19 infection and death for patients with morbid obesity, according to a study published in the November issue of Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases<\/em>.<\/p>\n Megan Jenkins, M.D., from NYU Langone Health in New York City, and colleagues examined if prior bariatric surgery correlated with an increased risk for hospitalization and outcome severity after COVID-19 infection. The analysis included a cohort identified from a single institution of 124 COVID-19-positive patients with a history of bariatric surgery and a control cohort of 496 COVID-19-positive patients who were eligible for bariatric surgery (body mass index \u00e2\u0089\u00a540 kg\/m2<\/sup> or body mass index \u00e2\u0089\u00a535 kg\/m2<\/sup> with a comorbidity at the time of COVID-19 diagnosis).<\/p>\n The researchers found that patients with a history of bariatric surgery were less likely to be admitted through the emergency department (unadjusted odds ratio [uOR], 0.39), were less likely to require a ventilator during the admission (uOR, 0.42), had a shorter length of stay in both the intensive care unit and overall (uOR, 0.44), and were less likely to be deceased at discharge versus the control group (uOR, 0.42).<\/p>\n “Our results emphasize the importance of bariatric surgery as a protective factor against severe COVID-19 infection and death in the high-risk population with obesity and [that] independently decreases the risk of hospitalization,” the authors write.<\/p>\n