Bariatric surgery in Poland in 2017-2022: retrospective analysis of public health system open data.

Background: There little known about bariatric surgeries performed in Poland. We aimed to analyze trends in bariatric surgery performed in public health system in Poland. Methods: Data was obtained from the National Health Fund (NFZ) database of aggregated statistics for the years 2017-2022. We retrieved data about hospitalizations during which bariatric surgery was performed. We performed descriptive statistics. Results: From 2017 to 2022, the number of bariatric surgeries in Poland's public healthcare system increased from 3,278 to 5,580, with a temporary decline in 2020. The number of procedures per 100,000 residents increased from 8.5 in 2017 to 14.7 in 2022. The majority of surgeries (73.3%) were performed on women. Sleeve gastrectomy was the most frequently reported procedure. The median duration of hospitalizations was 3 days. The in-hospital mortality rate was equal to 0.057. Conclusions: Between 2017 and 2022, bariatric surgeries in the Polish public healthcare system increased by about 70%, with a temporary drop in 2020. Nevertheless, Poland still reports fewer procedures per 100,000 residents compared to other developed countries. A key limitation of this study is the absence of data from private sector. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s40200-025-01600-0.