Sex disparity in laparoscopic bariatric surgery outcomes: a matched-pair cohort analysis

Abstract Men have been historically considered to be higher-risk patients for bariatric surgery compared to women, the perception of which is suggested to be a barrier to bariatric surgery in men. The purpose of this study is to conduct a matched-pair analysis to evaluate sex disparities in laparoscopic bariatric surgery outcomes. Data on patients who underwent laparoscopic bariatric surgery from March 2013 to 2017 was collected prospectively. Then, 707 men and 707 women pair-matched for age, preoperative body mass index (BMI) and the procedure type (i.e., sleeve gastrectomy, Roux-en-Y, or one-anastomosis gastric bypass) were compared in terms of weight loss, remission of obesity-related comorbidities, and postoperative complications classified according to the Clavien–Dindo classification. There was no difference between the two sexes regarding the operation time, bleeding during surgery and length of postoperative hospital stay. We observed similar total weight loss, BMI loss, and percentage of excess BMI loss at 12, 24, and 36 months postoperatively between men and women, with no difference in remission of diabetes mellitus, hypertension and dyslipidemia at 12 months. The rate of in-hospital, 30-day and late complications according to Clavien–Dindo classification grades was similar between men and women. Our matched-pair cohort analysis demonstrated that bariatric surgery results in comparable short- and mid-term efficacy in men and women, and is associated with similar rate and severity of postoperative complications between sexes. These findings suggest bariatric surgeons not to consider sex for patient selection in bariatric surgery

White matter tracts alterations underpinning reward and conflict processing

Background: Reinforcement sensitivity theory (RST) is proposed as a neurobiological system that eventually led to emotion and motivation-based constructs of personality. Traditionally segmented into the behavioral activation system (BAS) and the behavioral inhibition system (BIS), RST is commonly used to describe personality and behavior. Although there have been studies linking gray matter alterations with BIS/BAS subscales, the role of white matter (WM) alterations is yet controversial. We aimed to investigate the specific WM tracts associated with BIS/BAS scores.Methods: 220 healthy participants (mean age = 39.14 +/- 20.23, 80 (35.7 %) females) were evaluated using the BIS/BAS questionnaire from the LEMON database. Diffusion MRI connectometry (DMRI) was used to investigate the WM correlates of BIS/BAS subscales in each gender group. Multiple regression models with the covariates of age, handedness, and education were fitted to address the correlation of local connectomes with BIS/BAS components.Results: DMRI connectometry revealed that the quantitative anisotropy (QA) value of the splenium of the corpus callosum, right cerebellum, middle cerebellar peduncle, and superior cerebellar peduncle, had a significant negative correlation with each BIS/BAS subscale. In contrast, the QA value in the body of the corpus callosum and bilateral cingulum showed a positive correlation with BIS/BAS subscales.Conclusion: The integrity of WM in certain tracts is associated with behavioral activation and inhibition. This finding expands our knowledge of the neural networks associated with risk-taking and reward-seeking behaviors