Bariatric surgery versus lifestyle interventions for severe obesity: 5-year changes in body weight, risk factors and comorbidities

Summary Changes in body weight (BW), risk factors and comorbidities 5 years after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) or different lifestyle interventions are compared. A total of 209 (75% women) severe obese adults were non-randomly allocated to: (A) RYGB (n = 58), (B) weight loss (WL) camp (n = 30), (C) residential intermittent programme (n = 64) or (D) hospital outpatient programme (n = 57). Body weight, risk factors and comorbidities were assessed at baseline, 1 and 5 years. A total of 89 and 54% completed the 1- and 5-year follow-up. The RYGB group experienced more WL at 5 years (−23.9%, 95% CI [−27.7, −20.0]) compared with lifestyle groups: (B) (−9.2%, 95% CI [−16.9, −1.5]), (C) (−4.1%, 95% CI [−8.0, −0.1]) and (D) (−4.1 kg, 95% CI [−10.0, 1.8]) (all P