View article

Micronutrient deficiencies are key concerns after bariatric surgery. We describe the prevalence of perioperative testing and diagnosis of micronutrient deficiencies among a cohort of insured bariatric surgery patients.

We used claims data from seven health insurers to identify bariatric surgery patients from 2002–2008. Our outcomes were perioperative claims for vitamin D, B12, folate, and iron testing and diagnosed deficiencies. We analyzed results by bariatric surgery type: Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB), restrictive, and malabsorptive. We calculated the prevalence of testing and deficiency diagnosis, and performed multivariate logistic regression to determine the association with surgery type.

Of 21,345 eligible patients, 84 % underwent RYGB. The pre-surgical testing prevalence for all …