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Resuming Bariatric Surgery Procedures During COVID-19 Pandemic: Early Surgical Outcomes at a Tertiary Referral Center
Alia Alhareb1, Juan S Barajas-Gamboa1, Christine Tat1
1Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi, Digestive Disease InstituteAbu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.
Background:
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, elective surgical procedures have been delayed. Even with the implementation of surgical societies' recommendations, patient safety remains a concern. This study evaluates the postoperative outcomes in patients undergoing bariatric surgery after reopening (RO) elective surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Methods:
All patients who underwent bariatric surgery from September 2015 to July 2020 were included. Patients were divided into two cohorts: the pre-COVID-19 (PC) cohort and the RO cohort. Propensity score weighting was used to evaluate postoperative outcomes.
Results:
Our study included 1076 patients, 1015 patients were in the PC and 61 patients in the RO. Sixty-four percent were female with a mean age of 37 years and median body mass index of 41 kg/m2. There were no statistically significant differences in 30 days perioperative outcomes, including emergency department visits 24.8% PC versus 19.7% RO (p = 0.492), readmission 4.2% PC versus 8.2% RO (p = 0.361), reoperation 2.6% PC versus 0% RO (p = 0.996), and major complications 4.0% PC versus 4.9% RO (p = 0.812). No patients in the RO contracted COVID-19.
Conclusions:
With the appropriate policies and precautionary measures, there appear to be no differences in the 30-day postoperative outcomes before and during the COVID-19 pandemic.
