Impact of bariatric surgery on heart failure mortality

Background: The impact of bariatric surgery on discrete cardiovascular events has not been well characterized.

Objectives: To assess the impact of prior bariatric surgery on mortality associated with heart failure (HF) admission.

Setting: A retrospective analysis of 2007-2014 Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project-Nationwide Inpatient Sample.

Methods: Participants including 2810 patients with a principal discharge diagnosis of HF who also had a history of prior bariatric surgery were identified. These patients were matched 1:5 with patients who had similar principal diagnoses but no history of bariatric surgery (controls). Propensity scores, balanced on baseline characteristics, were used to assemble 2 control groups. Control group-1 included patients with obesity (body mass index [BMI] ≥35 kg/m²) only. In control group-2, the BMI was considered as one of the matching criteria in propensity matching. Multivariate regression models were utilized to calculate the odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) of mortality and length of stay (LOS).

Results: With well-balanced matching, 33,720 (weighted) patients were included in the analysis. In-hospital mortality rates after HF admission were significantly lower in patients with a history of bariatric surgery compared with control group-1 (0.96% versus 1.86%, OR .52, 95% CI .35-0.77, P = .0013) and control group-2 (0.96% versus 1.86%, OR .52, 95% CI .35-0.77, P = .0011). Furthermore, LOS was shorter in the bariatric surgery group compared with control group-1 (4.8 ± 4.4 versus 5.7 ± 5.7 d, P < .001) and control group-2 (4.8 ± 4.4 versus 5.4 ± 6.3 d, P < .001).

Conclusions: Our data suggest that prior bariatric surgery is associated with almost 50% reduction in in-hospital mortality and shorter LOS in patients with HF admission.