THURSDAY, May 7, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- The number of metabolic and bariatric surgery procedures in the United States dropped below 200,000 in 2024 for the first time since 2020, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery, held from May 3 to 7 in San Antonio.
Rachel Ferguson, from Loyola University in Chicago, and colleagues used the American College of Surgeons Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program database to assess changes in the number of patients undergoing bariatric procedures between 2020 and 2024.
The researchers found that case volumes peaked in 2022 at 230,207 and decreased in subsequent years, with 177,297 cases performed in 2024 -- the lowest since 2020. Decreases were seen both for initial cases and revisions (Z = −14.3 and −8.6, respectively). There was an increase seen in the proportion of conversion procedures (from 8.93 percent in 2020 to 11.05 percent in 2024; Z = 20.6), with the most common conversion each year being sleeve gastrectomy (SG) to Roux-en-Y-gastric bypass (RYGB; from 39.8 percent of conversions in 2020 to 60.3 percent in 2024; Z = 39.6). SG decreased in frequency annually and went from representing 64.4 percent of surgeries in 2020 to 58.4 percent of procedures in 2024 (Z = −40). Across the study period, there was an overall increase in the proportion of non-SG/RYGB/lap-band procedures (6.6 to 8.6 percent; Z = 23).
"After years of steady growth, the number of metabolic and bariatric procedures in the U.S. is experiencing a decline amid persistently high obesity rates and a surge in the use of GLP-1 medications," lead author Tyler Cohn, M.D., also from Loyola University, said in a statement. "While we did not study causation, the concern is that many patients are selecting nonsurgical therapies for obesity without fully understanding all of their available options. Millions more are living with obesity and are not receiving treatment at all."
