698 Frequency of Short vs Long-Term Reporting of Bariatric Surgery Outcomes

Abstract

Abstract Bariatric surgery is an effective treatment for obesity. Though both short- and long-term outcomes have been reported, most of the published literature to date has focused on short-term outcomes. Identification of post-operative weight regain, and re-emergence of comorbidities require long-term follow-up. We aimed to identify the distribution and changes in follow-up times within the bariatric surgery literature. We screened through 1807 articles from 9 bariatric surgery journals from January to June of 2015 and 2021 via PubMed and identified articles reporting weight loss as a main outcome. Follow-up intervals were divided into short- (<3 years), medium- (3–5 years), and long-term (≥5 years) as per the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS) guidelines. 53 and 63 articles were identified in 2015 and 2021 respectively. Reported follow-up lengths in 2015 were 32 (60%) short-term, 14 (26%) medium-term, and 7 (14%) long-term; while in 2021 there were 41 (65%) short-term, 6 (10%) medium-term and 16 (25%) long-term articles in 2021. Of the articles reporting long-term outcomes in 2015 and 2021, only 48% and 70% of the included patients respectively had >5 years follow up data available. Though reporting of long-term outcomes increased (14% to 25%), the majority of published outcomes remains short-term. Bariatric surgery registries such as the United Kingdom National Bariatric Surgery Registry (NBSR) are helping to mitigate this, but an increased focus on investigating and reporting long-term outcomes would be beneficial to clinicians and patients making decisions regarding surgery.