ABSTRACT
Candidates for bariatric surgery frequently have comorbid medical problems, and therefore often take multiple medications preoperatively. In a managed care sample, the mean number of prescription claims per person was 6.9 prior to bariatric surgery and 4.9 six months after surgery (Hodo, Waller, Martindale, & Fick, 2008). Among nearly 5,000 bariatric surgery candidates studied through the Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery (LABS) study (Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery Consortium, 2009), 39.9% of patients reported taking an antidepressant medication. In this study, antidepressants were the most commonly used class of drugs, followed by statins (26.6%), beta-blockers (17.9%), and narcotics (16.1%). As comorbidities often improve or resolve following bariatric surgery, patients are frequently able to simplify their medication regimens. Antidepressants have been consistently identified as the exception.
