The Impact of Previous History of Bariatric Surgery on Outcome of COVID-19. A Nationwide Medico-Administrative French Study

To determine the risk of invasive mechanical ventilation and death in obese individuals with a history of bariatric surgery (BS) admitted for COVID-19.

All obese inpatients recorded during a hospital stay by the French National Health Insurance were included, and their electronic health data were reviewed retrospectively. Patients who had undergone bariatric surgery comprised the BS group and patients with obesity but no history of BS served as controls. The primary outcome was COVID-19-related death and the secondary outcome was the need for invasive mechanical ventilation.

4,248,253 obese individuals aged 15–75 years were included and followed for a mean observation time of 5.43 ± 2.93 years. 8286 individuals with a previous diagnosis of obesity were admitted for COVID-19 between January 1 and May 15, 2020. Of these patients, 541 had a history of BS and 7745 did not. The need for invasive mechanical ventilation and death occurred in 7% and 3.5% of the BS group versus 15% and 14.2% of the control group, respectively. In logistic regression, the risk of invasive mechanical ventilation was independently associated with increasing age, male sex, and hypertension, and mortality was independently associated with increasing age, male sex, history of heart failure, cancer, and diabetes, whereas BS had an independent protective effect. Two random exact matching tests confirmed the protective effect of BS.

This nationwide study showed that BS is independently associated with a reduced risk of death and invasive mechanical ventilation in obese individuals with COVID-19.