National usage of bariatric surgery for class I obesity: an analysis of the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program.

Background: National and international consensus statements, as well as the National Institutes of Health (NIH), support the use of bariatric surgery for the treatment of class I obesity. Despite this, most payors within the United States limit reimbursement to the outdated 1991 NIH guidelines or a similar adaptation.

Objectives: This study aimed to determine the safety of bariatric surgery in patients with lower BMI compared with standard patients, as well as determine U.S. utilization of bariatric surgery in class I obesity in 2015-2019.

Setting: A retrospective analysis was performed of the 2015-2019 Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP) database.

Methods: Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy and laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass patients were divided into body mass index cohorts: class I obesity (<35 kg/m) and severe obesity (≥35 kg/m). Differences in preoperative patient selection and postoperative outcomes were established, and frequency trends were delineated.

Results: Analysis included 760,192 surgeries with 8129 (1%) for patients with class I obesity. The patients with class I obesity were older, more commonly female, and with lower American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) class, but with higher rates of type 2 diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and gastroesophageal reflux disease (P < .05). Variation was found for operative time, length of stay, 30-day readmission, and composite morbidity. Minimal annual variation was found for bariatric surgeries performed for patients with class I obesity.

Conclusions: The short-term safety of bariatric surgery in patients with class I obesity was corroborated by this study. Despite consensus statements and robust support, rates of bariatric surgery in patients with class I obesity have failed to increase and remain limited to 1%. This demonstrates the impact of the outdated 1991 NIH guidelines regarding access to care for these potentially life-saving surgeries.