Research
The number of bariatric surgery procedures worldwide has increased dramatically as the obesity pandemic continues. In the US alone, the case volume for bariatric surgery is estimated at more than 220,000 procedures per year – making it one of the most commonly performed elective abdominal operations. Despite the increase in bariatric surgery’s popularity as a treatment for obesity, only a few clinical studies have been conducted evaluating surgical procedures and outcomes based on a significant patient population.
With more than 500,000 patients currently in BOLD’s bariatric outcomes database and 12,000 new patients added each month, BOLD is in a unique position to provide data that can be used to evaluate the safety and efficacy of bariatric surgery and directly support its durable health benefits.
Comprehensive Yet Focused Data Sets
Useful Data from Diverse Provider Settings
Statistical Power to Study High- and Low-Frequency Occurrences
Trends and Long-Term Success Factors
Using BOLD Data for Research and Publication
Comprehensive Yet Focused Data Sets
BOLD captures information related to the “review of systems” commonly used during a patient history and physical – including questions related to comorbidities, risk factors and complications/adverse events. These comprehensive yet focused data sets, collected on all patients across diverse provider settings, are used to help evaluate COE program compliance and support quality improvement for bariatric and metabolic surgery.
Each data point has been carefully selected to provide pertinent patient information and avoid adding unnecessary components to the database or a participant’s workflow. SRC regularly evaluates the data sets that are used to ensure questions remain relevant and necessary.
Useful Data from Diverse Provider Settings
To facilitate collaboration and global impact, BOLD’s key data elements and definitions align with other national databases. BOLD’s findings have been consistent with other sources studying bariatric surgery, which supports the identification of industry-wide trends and helps promote BOLD’s overall goal of quality improvement.
BOLD, however, is unique in that its data comes from the specialty’s largest and most diverse patient sample. BOLD collects data from private practices, rural and metropolitan hospitals, academic institutions, and freestanding outpatient facilities in almost every state in the US – and will soon expand to other countries. BOLD’s varied patient population and geographic reach, combined with the depth of information collected, enables the study of a wide array of attributes impacting bariatric surgery safety and efficacy.
Statistical Power to Study High- and Low-Frequency Occurrences
BOLD’s size and patient accrual rate provides the statistical power needed to study high- and low-frequency occurrences. The database can be used to identify factors that contribute to surgical complications/adverse events and answer targeted questions related to comorbidities that may impact perioperative and long-term care.
BOLD’s longitudinal tracking capabilities offer a unique opportunity to collect long-term information – not just 30-day outcomes – on a large cohort of patients to evaluate the efficacy of bariatric surgery. This is a distinguishing difference between BOLD and other clinical databases.
Trends and Long-Term Success Factors
BOLD can be used to track long-term trends that directly impact patient safety, surgical efficacy, and the public perception of the bariatric and metabolic specialty. As an example, SRC’s Research team is currently developing risk stratification methodologies that can be used to help surgeons select the safest and most effective procedure for each patient. This information will also enable outcomes-based COE program requirements to be established.
Using BOLD Data for Research and Publication
SRC welcomes investigators, COE participants and others who are interested in using BOLD to answer a variety of research questions. SRC’s Data Dissemination Policies and Procedures (D2P2) were developed to protect the integrity of BOLD data, safeguard participant and patient information, and promote timely and scientifically accurate presentation and publication of data. Any party interested in using BOLD data must submit a formal data request.
For more information about using BOLD for research, contact SRC’s Research Team (research null@null surgicalreview NULL.org).