title: Effect of ethnicity on weight loss among adolescents 1 year after bariatric surgery.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To investigate whether or not bariatric surgery weight outcomes vary by ethnicity in a large, nationally representative sample of adolescents.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Bariatric Outcomes Longitudinal Database was used for analysis and contains data on surgeries performed on adolescents from 2004 to 2010 from 423 surgeons at 360 facilities across the United States Adolescents (n = 827) between 11 and 19 years old who underwent either gastric bypass or adjustable gastric banding surgery were included in the analysis. Outcome measures included changes in anthropometric measurements [weight (kg) and body mass index] from baseline to 3 (n = 739), 6 (n = 512), and 12 (n = 247) mo after surgery.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A year after patients underwent either gastric bypass (51%) or adjustable gastric banding (49%) surgery, mean estimated weight loss for all ethnic groups differed by a maximum of only 1.5 kg, being 34.3 kg (95%CI: 30.0-38.5 kg) for Hispanics, 33.8 kg (95%CI: 27.3-40.3 kg) for non-Hispanic blacks, and 32.8 kg (95%CI: 30.9-34.7 kg) for non-Hispanic whites. No overall pairwise group comparisons were significant, indicating that no ethnic group had better weight loss outcomes than did another.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Bariatric surgery substantially reduces the weight of severely obese adolescents at 1 year post-procedure with little variation by ethnicity and/or gender. These results suggest that bariatric surgery is a safe and reasonable treatment for all severely obese adolescents with the appropriate indications.
authors.affiliation: Sarah E Messiah, Steven E Lipshultz, Tracie L Miller, Division of Pediatric Clinical Research, Department of Pediatrics, Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Miami Leonard M Miller School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33101, United States.
authors.forename: Sarah E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Messiah
authors.forename: Gabriela
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lopez-Mitnik
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Winegar
authors.forename: Bintu
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sherif
authors.forename: Kristopher L
authors.initials: KL
authors.lastname: Arheart
authors.forename: Kirk W
authors.initials: KW
authors.lastname: Reichard
authors.forename: Marc P
authors.initials: MP
authors.lastname: Michalsky
authors.forename: Steven E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Lipshultz
authors.forename: Tracie L
authors.initials: TL
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Alan S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Livingstone
authors.forename: Nestor
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: de la Cruz-Muñoz
keywords: Adjustable gastric band surgery; Adolescents; Bariatric surgery; Ethnicity; Gastric bypass surgery; Severe obesity; Weight loss