Utilization of hospital services by obese patients before and after bariatric surgery.

Purpose: To compare the utility of various hospital services used by morbidly obese patients before and after bariatric surgery.

Methods: The subjects of this retrospective study were 73 consecutive patients, who underwent elective laparoscopic bariatric surgery between May 2008 and December 2010. There were 58 women and 15 men, with a median age of 45 years (IQR 26-65 years). The preoperative period ranged from 42 to 72 months (median 60 months) and the follow-up period ranged from 12 to 42 months (median 24 months). The health services analyzed included visits to emergency and outpatient departments, admissions to hospital, length of stay in hospital, and changes in regular medication before and after surgery. We also analyzed the economic results.

Results: In the post-procedure period, outpatient clinic visits were reduced by 13.8% per year (p = 0.04), the number of hospital admissions per year were reduced by 40.2% (p = 0.01), the total length of stay in hospital was reduced by 52.28% per year (p = 0.04), and regular medications were reduced by 26% (p = 0.003). There was no change in the use of emergency services. The total estimated cost saving ranged between $32,593 and 41,177 per year.

Conclusion: The utilization of various health services decreased soon after bariatric surgery, which translated into significant cost savings. This was mainly due to each patient's reduction in body weight and improvement in their chronic metabolic disorders.