Introduction of laparoscopic bariatric surgery in England: observational population cohort study

Objectives To describe national trends in bariatric surgery and examine the factors influencing outcome in bariatric surgery in England. Design Observational population cohort study. Setting Hospital Episode Statistics database. Participants All patients who had primary gastric bypass, gastric banding, or sleeve gastrectomy procedures between April 2000 and March 2008. Main outcome measures 30 day mortality, mortality at one year after surgery, unplanned readmission to hospital within 28 days, and duration of stay in hospital. Results 6953 primary bariatric procedures were carried out during the study period, of which 3649 were gastric band procedures, 3191 were gastric bypass procedures, and 113 were sleeve gastrectomy procedures. A marked increase occurred in the numbers of bariatric procedures done, from 238 in 2000 to 2543 in 2007, with an increase in the percentage of laparoscopic procedures over the study period (28% (66/238) laparoscopic procedures in 2000 compared with 74.5% (1894/2543) in 2007). Overall, 0.3% (19/6953) patients died within 30 days of surgery. The median length of stay in hospital was 3 (interquartile range 2-6) days. An unplanned readmission to hospital within 28 days of surgery occurred in 8% (556/6953) of procedures. No significant increase in mortality or unplanned readmission was seen over the study period, despite the exponential increase in minimal access surgery and consequently bariatric surgery. Conclusions Bariatric surgery has increased exponentially in England. Although postoperative weight loss and reoperation rates were not evaluated in this observational population cohort study, patients selected for gastric banding had lower postoperative mortality and readmission rates and a shorter length of stay than did those selected for gastric bypass.