title: Cost-effectiveness of bariatric surgery: should it be universally available?
abstract: This paper is the first to conduct cost-effectiveness analyses of bariatric surgery comparing obese patients with obesity-related diseases to obese people without comorbidities across different BMI categories, using the meta-analysis results of surgery outcomes for our effectiveness inputs. We find that surgery treatment is in general cost-effective for people whose BMI is greater than 35 kg/m(2) with or without obesity-related comorbidities, and it is even cost-saving for super obese (BMI ≥ 50 kg/m(2)) with obesity-related comorbidities. Our results also suggest that surgery can be cost-effective for the mildly obese (BMI ≥ 30 kg/m(2)). The bottom line is that bariatric surgery should be universally available to all classes of obese people.
authors.affiliation: Division of Public Health Sciences, Department of Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110, USA. changsh@wudosis.wustl.edu
authors.forename: Su-Hsin
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Chang
authors.forename: Carolyn R T
authors.initials: CR
authors.lastname: Stoll
authors.forename: Graham A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Colditz
mesh_terms: D050110:Bariatric Surgery / Q000191:economics*; D015992:Body Mass Index; D015897:Comorbidity; D003362:Cost-Benefit Analysis; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000191:economics*; D006801:Humans; D009765:Obesity / Q000191:economics / Q000601:surgery*; D009767:Obesity, Morbid / Q000191:economics / Q000601:surgery