Could Vitamin D Help Patients Heal Faster After Bariatric Surgery?

Vitamin D deficiency among patients after bariatric surgery might prolong their hospital stay and increase their risk of complications, according to new research.

Since obese people typically are vitamin D deficient, undergoing surgery increases their risk of experiencing dehiscence and, therefore, increasing their length of stay. Researchers wanted to investigate the connection between complications after bariatric surgery and patients’ vitamin D status, surgery location, and season in which the surgery took place.
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To conduct their study, researchers reviewed 932,091 patients from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample who had bariatric surgery between 2001 and 2010.

Researchers found that patients in the U.S. who had surgery in the winter—months with the least sunshine and natural vitamin D—had a longer length of stay and more complications than those who had surgery in the summer.

In addition, 150,000 more patients north of South Carolina had a longer length of stay than those in the south, and of the 300,000 patients who had complications, 71% were in the north.

“We have demonstrated a graded relationship between seasonality and adverse outcomes following bariatric surgery,” researchers concluded. “The association was strongest for dehiscence and prolonged length of stay. These relationships held when using latitude.”

—Amanda Balbi

Reference:

Peterson LA, Canner JK, Cheskin LJ, et al. Proxy measures of vitamin D status – season and latitude – correlate with adverse outcomes after bariatric surgery in the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, 2001–2010: a retrospective cohort study. Obesity and Science Practice. Published online December 14, 2015. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/osp4.15/abstract;jsessionid=A00070C91B67E8129DA010B4541DBD8F.f04t04.