Obesity rates are rising. However, bariatric surgery utilization remains low. For over five decades surgeons have used procedures that help reduce a patient’s weight. The procedures include gastric bypass, duodenal switch, gastric banding, and sleeve gastrectomy. Research shows that these procedures are more effective. This helps patients lose weight faster than traditional methods such as dieting and exercise.
Nearly 30 million adults in the U.S. meet NIH criteria for bariatric surgery
However, the number of eligible people who use bariatric surgery remains around 0.5%. This is a decrease from the 1990s. Then the rate was 0.7%. In this time period, the number of patients who qualified for bariatric surgery tripled.
One specific cause for this has not been found. However, it is believed that this lack of bariatric surgery utilization could be due to many combined factors, such as a slowly growing workforce, misconceptions, skepticism, and a hesitancy by some providers to refer patients for bariatric surgery. On top of this are insurance and financial hurdles. These are another common challenge that could be contributing to this lower utilization rate.