ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION/PURPOSE: Bariatric surgery (BS) has emerged as a cornerstone procedure to prevent and treat obesity-related comorbidities. As the Hispanic population continues to grow in the USA, their importance to the healthcare system cannot be understated. We aimed to assess the use of BS and related healthcare outcomes in Hispanics using a national database. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Case-control study using the 2010 to 2014 National Inpatient Sample datasets. BS use in Hispanics compared to non-Hispanics was the primary outcome. Secondary outcomes included inpatient mortality, morbidity, resource use, length of hospital stay, hospital costs, and total hospitalization charges. Propensity scores were used to match Hispanic patients with BS with non-Hispanic patients with BS using sex, age, and Charlson Comorbidity Index as covariates. A multivariate model was then used to adjust for additional confounding factors. RESULTS: From the 105,435 patients who underwent BS, a propensity-matched cohort of 20,440 was created (10,945 Hispanics). Mean (SD) age was 45 (17.2) years, and 73,594 (69.8%) were women. The prevalence of BS in Hispanics was 21/100,000 persons (281/100,000 admissions) compared to 36/100,000 persons (337/100,000 admissions) for non-Hispanics. On multivariate analysis, Hispanics displayed adjusted propensity-matched odds of 0.88 of having BS (P < 0.01). No differences were seen in the surgical approach performed. Hispanics and non-Hispanics had similar mortality, morbidity, hospital length of stay, and costs. CONCLUSION: Despite higher obesity rates, the use of BS is lower in Hispanics. For those who underwent BS, no difference in clinical outcomes and minor differences in resource use were observed.
