Background

Obesity is a major risk factor for cardiovascular diseases (CVD). Health care spends US$244.8 billion every year on CVD costs and hospitalizations. Bariatric surgery (BaS) is highly effective in attaining long-term weight loss and providing solutions for CVD forms. This study aims to analyze the outcomes in cost-analysis of CVD-related hospitalizations in BaS patients.

Methods

A retrospective analysis from the National Impatient Sample from 2010 to 2015. Patients with obesity were defined as having a BMI >= 35. Two groups were identified: treatment group, defined as patients with history of bariatric surgery (HBaS), and control group as patients without HBaS. CVD included were: coronary artery disease, heart failure, stroke, atrial fibrillation and related procedures. Univariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to compare characteristics and outcomes between groups.

Results

A total of 82,955 subjects were included. Treatment group comprised 4,549 subjects with a mean age of 59.4 years and the control group comprised 78,406 subjects with a mean age of 60.1 years. The difference in total costs and length of stay (LOS) were significantly greater for the control group for all CVD. Multivariate analysis showed that, the overall risk of having higher costs was increased for all comorbidities and procedures. Regarding LOS, a significant relationship was found except for atrial fibrillation and related procedures.

Conclusions

Our results demonstrate that beneficial effects of BaS decrease LOS of CVD-related hospitalizations and reduce the cost of hospitalizations. It's plausible that reduction of co-morbidities following BaS is responsible for the beneficial effects on CVD.