A holistic assessment of bariatric surgical outcomes in a Northern Irish cohort

The King's Obesity Staging system was developed to evaluate the effect of obesity treatments in multiple physical, psychological and functional domains. In this prospective cohort study, a Northern Irish cohort was scored using the King's Obesity Staging system before and 1 year after bariatric surgery. 71 individuals underwent surgery and 31 (44%) had type 2 diabetes. Bariatric surgery improved each health domain (p < 0.05). A subgroup with type 2 diabetes showed a significantly greater improvement in gonadal disease (polycystic ovarian syndrome and sub-fertility) (p = 0.02), and a trend towards greater improvement in cardiovascular disease (p = 0.07) compared with the non-diabetic subgroup. Half of those with pre-diabetes were normoglycaemic postoperatively (p < 0.05). The King's Obesity Staging system can be used to holistically evaluate the outcomes of bariatric surgery. Patients benefit from bariatric surgery in many ways, but those with diabetes may benefit more.