Bariatric/Metabolic Surgery in the Asia-Pacific Region: APMBSS 2018 Survey

IntroductionThe Asia-Pacific Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Society (APMBSS) held its congress in Tokyo at the end of March, 2018, and representatives from Asia-Pacific countries presented the current status of bariatric/metabolic surgery in the National Reports session. The data are summarized here to show the current status and problems in the Asia-Pacific region in 2017.MethodsA questionnaire including data of 2016 and 2017 and consisting of eight general questions was prepared and sent to representatives in 18 Asia-Pacific countries by e-mail before the congress. After the congress, the data were analyzed and summarized.ResultsSeventeen of 18 countries responded to the survey. The frequency of obesity (BMI 30) in the 4 Gulf countries was >30%, much higher than that in the other countries. In total, 1640 surgeons and 869 institutions were engaging in bariatric/metabolic surgery. In many East and Southeast Asian countries, the indication for bariatric surgery was BMI 35 or 37, whereas in many Gulf countries and Australia, it was BMI 40 or 35 with obesity-related disease. Ten of the 17 countries (58.8%) but only one of the 5 Southeast Asian countries (20.0%) had public health insurance coverage for bariatric surgery. In 2017, 95,125 patients underwent bariatric/metabolic surgery, with sleeve gastrectomy accounting for 68.0%, bypass surgery for 19.5%, and others for 12.5%. Current problems included public insurance coverage, training system, national registry, and lack of awareness and comprehension.ConclusionThis summary showed that bariatric/metabolic surgery is rapidly developing along with various problems in Asia-Pacific countries.