Ever since weight-loss surgery became an option for me, I read long-term studies with one question in mind: who is actually still being weighed years later? Out of 7,371 studies screened, only 29 still had at least 80 percent of their patients after more than two years, and one gastric bypass practice saw just seven percent of its patients in person after ten years, with another 19 percent reached by phone. My suspicion that the ones who disappear are the ones who failed is only half right. Those who track them down by phone find about six percentage points less excess weight loss in the first three years, and no difference in the few studies after that, all of it self-reported over the phone. As reasons, they mostly give travel distance, work, family or feeling that follow-up care is unnecessary, and only seven percent name their weight. But 10 to 18 percent can't be found even after searching, and nobody knows anything about them. So the nice ten-year numbers are more of an upper limit, and I want to have known that before I decide.
Sources
- Puzziferri N et al.: Long-term follow-up after bariatric surgery: a systematic review, JAMA 312(9):934–942 (2014)
- Higa K et al.: Laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass: 10-year follow-up, Surgery for Obesity and Related Diseases 7(4):516–525 (2011)
- Reiber BMM, Barendregt R, de Vries R, Bruin SC, van der Peet DL: Is Adherence to Follow-Up After Bariatric Surgery Necessary? A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis, Obesity Surgery 32:904–911 (2022)
- Harper J, Madan AK, Ternovits CA, Tichansky DS: What happens to patients who do not follow-up after bariatric surgery?, The American Surgeon 73(2):181–184 (2007)
- Paolino L, Couteau N, Vignot M, Batahei S, Lazzati A: Where Are My Patients? Lost and Found in Bariatric Surgery, Obesity Surgery 31:1979–1985 (2021)
- Krietenstein L, Koschker AC et al.: Characteristics of Patients Lost to Follow-up after Bariatric Surgery, Nutrients 16(16):2710 (2024)