Introduction: Obesity is a chronic disease due to excess fat storage, a genetic predisposition, and environmental contribution where surgery offers a viable treatment option. The surgical treatment of obesity in the elderly population (> 55 years) remains controversial.
Purpose: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) and laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGB) in elderly bariatric patients.
Materials and methods: Data was sourced from MEDLINE, EMBASE, CINAHL, PubMed, and Cochrane databases for peer-reviewed, randomized controlled trials, and observational studies in the English language were searched from the year 1991 until 2019. From the extracted data, early and late procedural complications and mortality were used as safety outcomes. Weight loss was the primary outcome for effectiveness while the resolution of obesity-related comorbidities was included as secondary outcomes. The Review Manager (Rev Man 5.3)™ software was used for statistical analysis.
Results: Of the forty-one screened studies, nine studies were included in the final analysis. There was no difference between LSG and LRYGB regarding early complications and mortality 3.6% versus 5.8% (p = 0.15) and 0.1% versus 0.8% (p = 0.27). Patients who underwent LRYGB had more late complications compared with those who underwent LSG (0.07% and 0.03%, p = 0.001). There was no difference in terms of weight loss at the end of 1 year. Patients who underwent LRYGB had a better resolution of obesity-related comorbidities, not statistically significant.
Conclusion: LRYGB has better efficacy when compared with LSG. However, high-risk elderly patients should be considered for LSG given the lesser morbidity and comparable efficacy with LRYGB.
Keywords: Efficacy; Elderly; Laparoscopic gastric bypass; Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy; Safety.