Patients are passively enrolled in the registry with the following characteristics: a bariatric procedure for weight loss after January 1, 2004 and actively enrolled in the health plan at the time of surgery.
Compared to national surgical quality databases, the registry (n = 20,296) has a similar proportion of Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB; 58%), more vertical sleeve gastrectomy (SG; 40%), fewer banding (2%) procedures, more Hispanic patients (35%), and higher rates of 1 year follow-up (78%). RYGB patients lost more weight at every time point up to 3 years after surgery compared with SG patients (P<.001). Non-Hispanic white RYGB patients had a higher percent excess weight loss than non-Hispanic black (P<.001) and Hispanic (P<.001) RYGB patients. There were no differences between SG racial/ethnic groups in percent excess weight loss throughout the 3-year follow-up period.
We are one of the first groups to publish comparison weight outcomes for RYGB and SG in a diverse patient population, showing that the responses to RYGB and not SG vary by race/ethnicity.