Bariatric surgery is expensive but improves co-morbidity: 5-year assessment of patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes

BACKGROUNDBariatric surgery can be effective in weight reduction and diabetes remission in some patients, but is expensive. The costs of bariatric surgery in patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) were explored here. METHODSPopulation-based retrospectively gathered data on patient...

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Published in:British journal of surgery 2021-05, Vol.108 (5), p.554-565
Main Authors: Wu, T, Wong, S K H, Law, B T T, Grieve, E, Wu, O, Tong, D K H, Leung, D K W, Ng, E K W, Lam, C L K, Wong, C K H
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:BACKGROUNDBariatric surgery can be effective in weight reduction and diabetes remission in some patients, but is expensive. The costs of bariatric surgery in patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) were explored here. METHODSPopulation-based retrospectively gathered data on patients with obesity and T2DM from the Hong Kong Hospital Authority (2006-2017) were evaluated. Direct medical costs from baseline up to 60 months were calculated based on the frequency of healthcare service utilization and dispensing of diabetes medication. Charlson Co-morbidity Index (CCI) scores and co-morbidity rates were measured to compare changes in co-morbidities between surgically treated and control groups over 5 years. One-to-five propensity score matching was applied. RESULTSOverall, 401 eligible surgical patients were matched with 1894 non-surgical patients. Direct medical costs were much higher for surgical than non-surgical patients in the index year (€36 752 and €5788 respectively; P 
ISSN:1365-2168
DOI:10.1002/bjs.11970