Bariatric Surgery Outcomes in Morbidly Obese with the Metabolic Syndrome at US Academic Centers

Background  The metabolic syndrome is associated with significant cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. We assessed the in-hospital outcomes of bariatric surgery in morbidly obese patients with the metabolic syndrome in comparison to a control group without the metabolic syndrome. Methods  Using ICD-9-CM diagnosis and procedure codes, clinical data for 20,242 patients with and without the metabolic syndrome who underwent bariatric surgery over a 5-year period were obtained from the University HealthSystem Consortium database. Results  The prevalence of the metabolic syndrome among bariatric surgery patients was 27.4%. Patients with the metabolic syndrome presented significantly higher overall morbidity as compared to morbidly obese patients without the metabolic syndrome (8.6% vs. 5.8%; p < 0.01), and similar mortality (0.04% vs. 0.01%; p = 0.2) after bariatric surgery. Hispanics with the metabolic syndrome had the highest morbidity rates, and men had the uppermost mortality. In-hospital bariatric surgery outcomes were significantly improved among patients who underwent laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding. Conclusions  The data suggest that the presence of the metabolic syndrome affects inter-ethnic and gender-specific short-term outcomes after bariatric surgery.