EP.WE.1048Weight Regain After Sleeve Gastrectomy More Common in Male and Less Common in Super-Obese Patients - Results of an 18-Month Follow-up Study

Aims Long-term success of Sleeve Gastrectomy (SG) is undermined by weight regain (WR). Several procedure- and patient-specific factors have been proposed in previous studies. Here we look at 18-month follow-up post-SG to investigate WR and patient-specific variables influencing this. Methods A single-centre study involving retrospective analysis of a prospectively-maintained database. Inclusion criteria: Primary non-revisional SG patients with adequate follow-up data to assess WL/WR trends. Patients were divided into two subgroups based on their %EWL between 6-to-12 and 12-to-18 months: weight regainers (WR) and weight losers/maintainers (WL/M). Results Out of 338 SG cases between 2012-2017, 180 met inclusion criteria of which 18.3% were men and 45% were super-obese. All patients lost weight during first 6 months (mean %EWL 52.3%, P < 0.0001). Between 6-to-12 months, 87.6% patients continued WL with a further mean %EWL of 10.35% (P < 0.0001). Between 12-to-18 months, a drastic deceleration/reversal of WL progress was observed with an average of only 0.76% EWL (P = 0.84), with 42% of patients regaining weight in this period (mean EWG 6.8%). Male patients encountered significantly higher WR rate (OR 3.27, P = 0.003), whereas it was much less frequent in pre-operatively super-obese patients (OR 0.48, P = 0.036). Moreover, there was no difference in the 6-month %EWL between WR and WL/M subgroups (P = 0.62), thus negating the possibility of WL burn-out phenomenon. Conclusions Different rates of WR in men and super-obese patients may indicate underlying behavioural and biological differences. More research is needed to investigate them in detail, having implications for revisional surgery and follow-up support.