Pre-pregnancy bariatric surgery ups risk of abdominal surgery

(HealthDay)—Bariatric surgery is associated with an increased risk of abdominal surgery during subsequent pregnancy, according to a study published in the May issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology.

Andrea Stuart, M.D., Ph.D., from Central Hospital in Helsingborg, and Karin Källen, Ph.D., from Lund University—both in Sweden, analyzed data from the Swedish Medical Birth Registry and the Swedish National Patient Registry. The authors sought to compare rates of abdominal surgery during pregnancy among women who had bariatric surgery (1987 to 2011) and women in a control group with first-trimester body mass index ≥35 kg/m² who had not had bariatric surgery.

The researchers found that during the first pregnancy after bariatric surgery, the rate of surgery for intestinal obstruction was 1.5 percent (39 of 2,543) among women in the case group compared with 0.02 percent (four of 21,909) among women in the control group (adjusted odds ratio, 34.3). Similarly, The rate of diagnostic laparoscopy or laparotomy was similarly higher among the case women versus the controls (1.5 versus 0.1 percent; adjusted odds ratio, 11.3).

"Bariatric surgery is associated with an increased risk of abdominal surgery during pregnancy," the authors write. "Although the absolute risk of abdominal surgery is small, it must nevertheless be weighed against the reduction of obesity-related obstetric risk factors after bariatric surgery when advising obese women about family planning."

Copyright © 2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved.