Obesity surgery makes patients healthier and more functional: real world results from the United Kingdom National Bariatric Surgery Registry()

BACKGROUND: The National Bariatric Surgery Registry (NBSR) is the largest bespoke database in the field in the United Kingdom. OBJECTIVES: Our aim was to analyze the NBSR to determine whether the effects of obesity surgery on associated co-morbidities observed in small randomized controlled clinical trials could be replicated in a "real life" setting within U.K. healthcare. SETTING: United Kingdom. METHODS: All NBSR entries for operations between 2000 and 2015 with associated demographic and co-morbidity data were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: A total of 50,782 entries were analyzed. The patients were predominantly female (78%) and white European with a mean age of 45 ± 11 years and a mean body mass index of 48 ± 8 kg/m(2). Over 5 years of follow-up, statistically significant reductions in the prevalence of type 2 diabetes, hypertension, dyslipidemia, sleep apnea, asthma, functional impairment, arthritis, and gastroesophageal reflux disease were observed. The "remission" of these co-morbidities was evident 1 year postoperatively and reached a plateau 2 to 5 years after surgery. Obesity surgery was particularly effective on functional impairment and diabetes, almost doubling the proportion of patients able to climb 3 flights of stairs and halving the proportion of patients with diabetes related hyperglycemia compared with preoperatively. Surgery was safe with a morbidity of 3.1% and in-hospital mortality of .07% and a reduced median inpatient stay of 2 days, despite an increasingly sick patient population. CONCLUSIONS: Obesity surgery in the U.K. results not only in weight loss, but also in substantial improvements in obesity-related co-morbidities. Appropriate support and funding will help improve the quality of the NBSR data set even further, thus enabling its use to inform healthcare policy.