J. Jenkins1, A. Hasan5, Z. Leslie4, T. Inturi3, S. Ikramuddin1, C. Quinn2, E. Wise1 1University Of Minnesota, Surgery, Minneapolis, MN, USA 2University Of Minnesota, School Of Medicine, Minneapolis, MN, USA 3University Of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA 4Carleton College, Northfield, MN, USA 5Washington University, College Of Arts And Sciences, St. Louis, MO, USA
Introduction: The Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program (MBSAQIP) is data collected in a standard manner with mandatory reporting by accredited bariatric programs across the US. Previous studies have compared race in readmission by urgency in a smaller time frame. The aim of this study was to compare readmission trends after bariatric surgery between white and non-white races in the MBSAQIP.
Methods: The MBSAQIP patient use files from 2015-2022 were concatenated, and vertical sleeve gastrectomy and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass procedures were included. Patients were separated by race into two cohorts for analysis: white and non-white. 30 day rate of readmission and reoperation were calculated as well as comorbidities and other health factors to construct a multivariable logistic regression model.
Results: A total of 1,374,267 patients were identified in the MBSAQIP of which 946,530 were white and 427,737 were non-white. Patients identified as being of white race had a 3.35% readmission rate and 1.23% reoperation rate, while non-white races had 4.03% and 1.14% respectively (P<0.001). Dialysis, pre-operative deep venous thrombosis and history of pulmonary embolism were the comorbidities with the largest disparities between white and non-white races. Patients identifying of black race (odds ratio 1.45; 95% confidence interval [1.42, 1.49]; P<0.05) and those patients identifying as hispanic (odds ratio 1.07; 95% confidence interval [1.03, 1.1]; P<0.05) had the largest discrepancies of readmission relative to patients of white race. Temporally, the readmission rate has dropped steadily from 2015-2022 for both white and non-white races. However, the difference is still substantial as the admission rate for non-white patients was higher in 2022 (3.50%) than it has been for white patients since 2017 (3.40%).
Conclusions: Healthcare professionals and patients should be aware of the higher risk for black and hispanic patients to be readmitted and undergo reoperation. Awareness of these racial disparities is critical, as potential avenues to mitigate these should be investigated.