Bariatric Surgery in China: How Is This New Concept Going?

Obesity has become an epidemic in developing countries including China. The use of bariatric surgery to treat obesity has grown in popularity worldwide, but it is still a new concept in China. This study aims to investigate the trends in bariatric surgery in China.

An electronic search of the MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure was conducted to select studies for this survey.

A total of 7779 bariatric procedures were reported from 2001 to 2015, most of which (89.2 %) were performed in the most recent 5 years. Further, 70.9 % of all procedures were performed to treat obesity and related comorbidities, defined as metabolic surgery. The data showed 89.4 % of all operations were performed laparoscopically. The absolute number of bariatric surgeries increased 148.7 times in the last 5 years compared to the 2001–2005 period. The percentage of laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypasses performed increased from 0 to 62.2 %, and the percentage of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomies from 0 to 12.7 %. The percentage of laparoscopic adjustable gastric bands increased dramatically from 0 to 73.3 % in the 2006–2010 period, but it dropped quickly to 12.9 % in the 2011–2015 period. Most operations (66.7 %) were conducted in the East area, which is the most developed economic region in China. There was limited surgical innovation or original research reported in China.

Bariatric surgery is still at an early stage in China, but is now experiencing an explosive growth. A national registry system needs to be established to record and provide precise data.