Obesity (Silver Spring). 2020 Sep 1. doi: 10.1002/oby.23026.
PubMed ID: 32875723
Abstract
Objectives: Obesity is a major risk factor of severe forms of COVID‐19 but little is known about the post bariatric surgery (BS) setting. We assessed the prevalence of likely COVID‐19 and its risk factors in patients followed‐up after BS.
Methods: We surveyed 738 patients who underwent BS and were followed‐up at our university medical centre. A retrospective comparison of characteristics at baseline, one‐ year post BS and at the time of lockdown was performed between patients with a COVID‐19 likely event (CL) based on a combination of reported symptoms vs. those for whom it was unlikely (CU).
Results: CL occurred in 62 (8.4%) patients among whom 4 (6.4%) had severe form requiring hospitalization and 1 (1.6%) died. The CL group had a higher proportion of persistent type 2 diabetes (T2D) at last follow‐up (36.2% vs. 20.3%, p=0.01). BMI at the time of lockdown was lower in the CL group (30.2 ± 5.1 vs. 32.8 ± 6.5 kg/m2; p<0.01) with higher percent weight loss since BS in the CL group. Severe forms of COVID‐19 requiring hospitalization were associated with persistent T2D at last follow‐up visit.<.p>
Conclusions: In post‐bariatric patients, COVID‐19 likely events were associated with persistent T2D and lower BMI.