Surgery for obesity and related diseases : official journal of the American Society for Bariatric Surgery
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Surg Obes Relat Dis · Jul 2021
Unequal rates of postoperative complications in relatively healthy bariatric surgical patients of white and black race.
Racial disparities in postsurgical complications are often presumed to be due to a higher preoperative co-morbidity burden among patients of black race, although being relatively healthy is not a prerequisite for a complication-free postoperative course. ⋯ Even among relatively healthy patients, race appears to be an important determinant of postbariatric surgery complications and resource utilization. Research and interventions aimed at narrowing the racial disparities in bariatric surgery outcomes may need to broaden the focus beyond the racial variation in the preoperative co-morbidity burden.