According to a new study, individuals with obesity who had considerable weight loss after bariatric surgery were at a lower risk of developing severe complications from COVID-19, in comparison with matched people with obesity who did not undergo surgery and did not have a similar level of weight loss.

The observational, retrospective review of around 12,000 patients from a single US center noted that those with obesity who had undergone bariatric surgery lost on average around 19% more body weight than matched controls with obesity who did not undergo surgery over a median follow-up of close to 8 years. Around 800 people in the study population developed COVID-19 infection during the first year of the pandemic. Among these, patients who had undergone surgery were found to have a 49% lower risk of hospitalization, 63% lower risk of requiring supplemental oxygen, and a 60% lower risk of severe COVID-19, in comparison with the controls. There was a 73% lower risk of all-cause death among those who had undergone bariatric surgery; however, the difference was not significant (P = .09). The findings are published in JAMA Surgery… (Medscape)