Semaglutide vs. Bariatric Surgery: Comparing Costs and Clinical Outcomes in Patients With Diabetes and Obesity
Authors' conclusion
For patients with T2D and obesity, compared with semaglutide, bariatric surgery is associated with lower OOP spending and similar total spending at 3 years, as well as lower long-term MACE rates.
Study context
- Population
- Patients with BMI ≥ 35 and T2D, MarketScan insurance claims 2016–2021
- Participants
- 6,748 patients
- Exposure
- Semaglutide vs sleeve gastrectomy vs gastric bypass
- Semaglutiden = 2,797reference
- Sleeve gastrectomyn = 2,300
- Gastric bypassn = 1,651
- Outcome
- Health care spending (OOP and total)
- Follow-up
- 3 years
Methodological detailsinsurance claims (MarketScan), inverse probability weighting, instrumental variables, generalized linear models
- Insurance claims (MarketScan)
- Inverse probability weighting
- Instrumental variables
- Generalized linear models
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
OOP costs
Semaglutide
$7752
Sleeve gastrectomy
$5980
Gastric bypass
$6591
P < 0.001
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
| Outcome | HR (95% CI) | |
|---|---|---|
| ED visitsGastric bypassvs Semaglutide | 1.36 (1.28–1.45) | |
| Inpatient admissionsGastric bypassvs Semaglutide | 1.25 (1.13–1.37) | |
| Inpatient admissionsSleeve gastrectomyvs SemaglutideLong-term admissions | 0.79 (0.72–0.86) | |
| MACEGastric bypassvs Semaglutide | 0.71 (0.59–0.88) | |
| MACESleeve gastrectomyvs Semaglutide | 0.79 (0.66–0.93) | |
| 0.512Hazard ratio (log scale) |
Original publication
Semaglutide vs. Bariatric Surgery: Comparing Costs and Clinical Outcomes in Patients With Diabetes and Obesity. Obesity (Silver Spring). Published 6 May 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →