ABSTRACT
PURPOSE: Obesity has become a global health concern, associated with decreased quality of life and life expectancy. Although bariatric surgery has many benefits (e.g., substantial and durable weight loss, amelioration of comorbidities, and improvement in functionality), its patient attrition rate is relatively high. Therefore, we aim to assess the causes of withdrawal from our program. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We interviewed patients who dropped out of our bariatric surgery program between January 2016 and December 2021. A total of 1999 patients were eligible for bariatric surgery during this period, and 255 patients withdrew from the program. We interviewed patients over the phone to find out the reason for withdrawal. We divided participants into two groups: dropouts before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. Several options explaining the reason for leaving the program were presented to the patients to choose from. RESULTS: The number of patients who withdrew from the program before and during the COVID-19 pandemic was 135 (8.9%) and 120 (25.2%), respectively. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, most patients (49.1%) stated that the long waiting time was the cause of withdrawal. Even though during the COVID-19 pandemic, the main causes of attrition were the fear of contracting the disease and COVID-19 infection; the most common reason unrelated to COVID-19 was still the long preoperative preparation. CONCLUSION: Long waiting time was the most common cause of patient attrition before bariatric surgery. To reduce the attrition rate, more studies should be conducted to find an optimized waiting time before bariatric surgery.