Number of weight loss attempts and maximum weight loss before Roux-en-Y laparoscopic gastric bypass surgery are not predictive of postoperative weight loss

Background: Many insurance companies have mandated that bariatric surgery candidates already satisfying the National Institutes of Health criteria make an additional attempt at medically supervised weight loss. The objective of this study was to determine whether a correlation exists between the number of weight loss attempts (WLAs) or maximal preoperative weight loss (MWL) and the percentage of excess weight loss (%EWL) after laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (LRYGB) surgery. Methods: The WLAs and MWL data were collected by bariatric medical record review. The postoperative %EWL was obtained by retrospective review of a prospectively enrolled bariatric database. Patients whose records contained 1 year of follow-up data and either the WLAs or MWL were included in the study. The data were analyzed using Pearson correlations and odds ratios. Results: From September 2001 to 2006, 530 patients underwent LRYGB. Of these, 384 met the study criteria (82.6% were women). The mean WLAs was 4.3 ± 1.8. The mean MWL was 46.6 ± 31.2 lb (21.2 ± 14.2 kg). At surgery, the mean patient age was 43.3 ± 9.3 years, and the mean body mass index was 48.0 ± 5.9 kg/m². At 1 year after LRYGB, the mean body mass index was 30.2 ± 5.0 kg/m², and the mean %EWL was 72.3% ± 15.3%. Statistical analysis revealed no correlations between the %EWL at 1 year after LRYGB and the WLAs (R² = .011) or MWL (R² = .005). Conclusion: Neither the WLAs nor the MWL correlated with the %EWL at 1 year after LRYGB. Our results showed no evidence that the WLAs or MWL before surgery correlates with the %EWL in patients undergoing LRYGB.