ETHNICITY, TYPE OF OBESITY SURGERY AND WEIGHT-LOSS

In our study we compared weight loss among non-Hispanic whites (NHW), black Afro-Americans (BAA) and Hispanic Americans (HA) following verti cal banded gastroplasty (VBG) and vertical banded gastroplasty-gastric bypass (VBG-RGB). From a total of 1222 patients, 682 qualified for th e study (471 VBG, 211 VBG-RGB) based on type of surgery, follow-up and ethnicity. When comparing percentage excess weight loss, VBG-RGB pati ents lost significantly more than VBG patients. VBG-RGB was also a mor e efficacious operation when comparing each ethnic group separately. F or female patients undergoing VBG, BAA and HA lost significantly less weight than NHW. Ethnicity plays an important role in post surgical we ight loss for VBG patients and should be considered along with other m ore recognized predictors when reporting results. The discrepancy in w eight loss reported by various authors following VBG could be the resu lt of differences in the ethnic composition of their patients. Poor we ight loss among BAA and HA females undergoing VBG should be an indicat ion for a more aggressive surgical approach in these ethnic groups. Be cause VBG produces only moderate weight loss, VBG-RGB is our preferred operation.