Insurance payor status and risk of major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events after metabolic and bariatric surgery.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: Patients with Medicare/Medicaid insurance receive metabolic and bariatric surgery (MBS) at lower rates than privately insured (PI) patients. Although studies on some surgical procedures report that Medicare/Medicaid insurance confers increased postoperative complication rates and a longer length of stay, less is known about these outcomes after MBS. Among often-feared postoperative complications are major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events (MACEs). Although these events are rare after MBS, they have a significant impact on morbidity and mortality. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to examine the effect of insurance payor status on MACEs after MBS. SETTING: The Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project National Inpatient Sample (HCUP-NIS). METHODS: HCUP-NIS was queried for cases including sleeve gastrectomy or Roux-en-Y gastric bypass between 2012 and 2019. Bivariate associations between patient-level factors and MACEs were assessed via Rao-Scott χ2 tests. Adjusted and unadjusted risks of insurance payor status for MACEs were evaluated using logistic regression. RESULTS: Incidence of MACEs was higher in both Medicare (.75% versus .11%; P < .001) and Medicaid (.15% versus .11%; P < .001) groups than in the PI group. After adjustment for high-risk demographics, high-risk co-morbidities, socioeconomic variables, and hospital factors, insurance status of Medicare (odds ratio [OR] 1.60, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.23, 2.07; P = .0026) or Medicaid (OR 1.55, 95% CI 1.12, 2.16; P = .0026) remained an independent risk factor for MACEs. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings underscore the significance of Medicaid/Medicare payor status as an independent predictor of postoperative MACEs in MBS. The results of this study can have a significant impact on deepening our understanding of socioeconomic and health system-related issues that can be targeted to improve outcomes in both MBS and other surgical specialties.