The study, conducted by Edward H. Livingston, MD, of the University of Texas Southwestern School of Medicine, reviewed data from the 2005 National Inpatient Survey, which surveyed 19,363 patients who underwent bariatric surgery that year, including 5,420 (28 percent) whose procedures were performed at bariatric surgery centers of excellence. Overall, 0.1 percent of patients died in the hospital and 6.4 percent developed complications, according to the report.
According to the data, more bariatric operations were performed at the 24 of 253 hospitals in the database designated as centers of excellence. At centers of excellence, 0.17 percent of patients died and 6.3 percent developed complications, compared with a 0.09 death rate and 6.4 percent complication rate at other facilities. Patients spent the same number of days in the hospital (an average of 2.6), and average cost was $11,527 at centers of excellence compared to $10,984 at other hospitals.
Read Science Daily’s report on the bariatric centers of excellence study.
