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Risk of ED visits, hospitalizations for asthma decrease after bariatric surgery

Bariatric surgery reduced the risk of an ED visit or hospitalization for asthma exacerbation by half and remained lower for at least 2 years after surgery, according to study results.

Kohei Hasegawa, MD, MPH, of the department of emergency medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, and colleagues, conducted a self-controlled case series study of 2,261 obese patients with asthma aged 18 to 54 years who underwent bariatric surgery in California, Florida or Nebraska between 2005 and 2011. The researchers looked at each patient’s risk for an ED visit or hospitalization for an asthma exacerbation 2 years prior to and 2 years after bariatric surgery.

Thirteen to 24 months before surgery, 22% of patients required at least one ED or hospitalization for asthma exacerbation. In the year prior to surgery, the risk for an ED visit or hospitalization remained about the same (21.7%; OR = 0.98; 95% CI, 0.85-1.13).

However, at 1 year after bariatric surgery, the risk for an ED visit or hospitalization for asthma exacerbation decreased to 10.9% of patients (OR = 0.42; 95% CI, 0.35-0.50) and remained the same 24 months later.

Because of the costs and risks of surgery, the researchers indicated more research into nonsurgical approaches are needed.

“Because the benefit of bariatric surgery might be offset by the initial high cost and risks of surgical complications, our finding also emphasizes the importance of safe, effective, nonsurgical approaches to achieve major weight loss, which would likely benefit millions of obese patients with asthma,” the researchers wrote. – by Ryan McDonald 

Disclosure: Hasegawa reports receiving research support from the Eleanor and Miles Shore Fellowship. See the full study for a list of all other authors’ relevant financial disclosures.