30-day readmission rates at a high volume bariatric surgery center: laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding, laparoscopic gastric bypass, and vertical banded gastroplasty-Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.

Background: Recent studies suggest that weight loss operations may actually increase the costs to society due to increased hospital readmission rates. The purpose of this study was to determine the 30-day readmission rates following bariatric operations at a high volume bariatric surgery program.

Methods: Records for all patients undergoing bariatric operations during a 3-year period were harvested from the hospital electronic medical database. All hospital readmissions within 30 days of surgery were reviewed to determine the cause, demographics, and patient characteristics. Logistic regression analysis assessed the impact of various factors on the risk of readmission.

Results: 2,823 consecutive patients were identified using the corrected operative log. Of these patients, 165 (5.8%) patients required 184 (6.5%) readmissions within 30 days of their index bariatric operation. Laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) had the lowest patient readmission rate of 3.1%; vertical banded gastroplasty-Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (VBG-RYGBP) 6.8% and Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGBP) 7.3%. Technical considerations were the most common cause for readmission (41% of readmissions). White race and undergoing LAGB decreased the odds for readmission, while total operating-room time >120 minutes, initial hospital stay of >3 days and deep venous thrombosis increased the odds for readmission.

Conclusion: This study found an overall 30-day readmission rate of 6.5% following bariatric operations at a high volume bariatric surgery program. This study supports the concept of bariatric surgery Centers of Excellence and accreditation of Bariatric Surgery Programs based on hospital volume of bariatric operations.