Sameer B Murali

• Doctor of Medicine
• Professor (Associate) at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston

PurposeWeight loss surgery is an effective, long-term treatment for severe obesity but individual response to surgery varies widely. The purpose of this study was to test a comprehensive theoretical model of factors that may be correlated with the greatest surgical weight loss at 1–3 years following surgery. Such a model would help determine what p...

Objective: This study examined the association between individual- and neighborhood-level sociodemographic factors and surgical weight loss at 1 year (short term) and 3 years (long term). Methods: Data were obtained from the baseline survey of the BELONG (Bariatric Experience Long Term) prospective longitudinal cohort study. Individual-level sel...

Objective: This study examined the association of weight loss following bariatric surgery with self-reported sleep quality after accounting for other sleep-related factors. Methods: Participants were from the Bariatric Experience Long Term (BELONG) study. Participants completed a survey up to 6 months before surgery and approximately 1 year afte...

Importance: The comparative effectiveness of the most common operations in the long-term management of dyslipidemia is not clear. Objective: To compare 4-year outcomes associated with vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG) vs Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) for remission and relapse of dyslipidemia. Design, setting, and participants: This retrospec...

Importance: Bariatric surgery is the most effective treatment for severe obesity; yet it is unclear whether the long-term safety and comparative effectiveness of these operations differ across racial and ethnic groups. Objective: To compare outcomes of Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) and sleeve gastrectomy (SG) across racial and ethnic groups in...

Purpose The Bariatric Experience Long Term (BELONG) prospective study cohort was created to address limitations in the literature regarding the relationship between surgical weight loss and psychosocial, health, behaviour and environmental factors. The BELONG cohort is unique because it contains 70% gastric sleeve and 64% patients with non-white ra...

Background Comparative evidence is needed when deciding on which bariatric operation to have for long-term cardiovascular risk reduction. Objective The Effectiveness of Gastric Bypass vs. Gastric Sleeve for Cardiovascular Disease (ENGAGE CVD) study compared the effectiveness of vertical sleeve gastrectomy (VSG) and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB)...

Objective: To examine whether depression status before metabolic and bariatric surgery (MBS) influenced 5-year weight loss, diabetes, and safety/utilization outcomes in the PCORnet Bariatric Study. Summary of background data: Research on the impact of depression on MBS outcomes is inconsistent with few large, long-term studies. Methods: Data w...

Objective: There are few studies testing the amount of weight loss necessary to achieve initial remission of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) following bariatric surgery and no published studies with use of weight loss to predict initial T2DM remission in sleeve gastrectomy (SG) patients. Research design and methods: With Cox proportional hazards...

Weight loss is an effective strategy for the management of hypertension, and bariatric surgery is the most effective weight loss and maintenance strategy for obesity. The importance of bariatric surgery in the long-term management of hypertension and which operation is most effective is less clear. We compared the effectiveness of vertical sleeve g...

Background: Bariatric surgery is a widespread treatment for obesity that often provides long-term weight control and health benefits. Although a growing number of women are becoming pregnant after bariatric surgery, few population-based studies have assessed its impact on perinatal outcomes. Objective(s): To examine the association between baria...

Bariatric surgery is associated with changing food preferences, but it is not known whether these changes differ by type of operation or are associated with weight loss. The current study presents validation results for a new 27-item scale, Bariatric Surgical Alterations in Tolerability, Enjoyment and Cravings in the Diet (BSATED). This scale measu...

Background: Obesity, race/ethnicity, and other correlated characteristics have emerged as high-profile risk factors for adverse coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-associated outcomes, yet studies have not adequately disentangled their effects. Objective: To determine the adjusted effect of body mass index (BMI), associated comorbidities, time,...

Background: In 2016, the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute funded the National Patient Centered Clinical Research Network (PCORnet) Bariatric Study (PBS). Understanding the experience of postoperative patients was a key component of this study. Methods: Nine focus groups were conducted in Southern California, Louisiana, Pennsylvania,...

Background When compared with conventional weight loss strategies, bariatric surgery results in substantially greater durable weight loss and rates of disease remission. Objective The ENGAGE CVD (Effectiveness of Gastric Bypass versus Gastric Sleeve for Cardiovascular Disease) cohort study aimed to provide population-based, comprehensive, rigorous...

In Reply Dr Auerbach takes issue with the treatment of a patient with vitamin B12 and iron deficiency after gastric bypass with oral iron.¹ His claim that all patients who undergo bariatric surgery have an obligate need for parenteral iron because of poor absorption or increased risk with oral iron supplementation lacks clinical nuance and scientif...

A 37-year-old woman with a history of diabetes, hypertension, obstructive sleep apnea, depression, and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) 16 years prior presented to an ambulatory care clinic with fatigue, loss of appetite, and hair loss. She lost 50.8 kg from the time of the procedure to presentation, her body mass index at presentation was 23, and h...

A 31-year-old gravida 2, para 1 patient of 36 weeks’ gestation had undergone a laparoscopic Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) 4 years ago, resulting in prepregnancy weight loss of 70 kg, or 128% of her excess weight. She awakened with severe lower back pain, abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting. She came to the emergency department with 10/10 abdomin...

Background: There has been a dramatic shift in use of bariatric procedures, but little is known about their long-term comparative effectiveness. Objective: To compare weight loss and safety among bariatric procedures. Design: Retrospective observational cohort study, January 2005 to September 2015. (ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT02741674). Setting:...

Kaiser Permanente, an integrated health care delivery system in the USA, takes a “whole systems” approach to the chronic disease of obesity that begins with efforts to prevent it by modifying the environment in communities and schools. Aggressive case-finding and substantial investment in intensive lifestyle modification programs target individuals...

To the Editor The study by Dr Arterburn and colleagues¹ found lower mortality among obese patients in the Veterans Affairs (VA) health system receiving bariatric surgery compared with matched controls not receiving surgery. The authors did not account for several relevant sources of selection bias introduced by the VA bariatric surgery eligibility...

Background: Successfully changing patients' dietary behavior is a challenging problem in the management of chronic kidney disease (CKD). We conducted a pilot study to test the feasibility and acceptability of an Internet-based, self-administered, dietary assessment tool equipped with instructional feedback, aimed at facilitating dietary adherence...

Successfully changing patients’ dietary behavior is a challenging problem in the management of chronic kidney disease (CKD). To test the feasibility and acceptability of an internet‐based, self‐administered, dietary assessment tool equipped with instructional feedback, aimed at facilitating patient dietary change and reducing resource burdens on pr...

African-Americans (AAs) maintain a high prevalence of vitamin D insufficiency compared to Caucasians. The relationship between dietary sources of vitamin D and serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) among AAs remains poorly understood. This research ex-amines the dietary determinants of 25(OH)D levels in AAs and Caucasians, controlling for demographic...

Mortality in long-term hemodialysis patients is high, mostly attributed to cardiovascular events, and may be related to chronic inflammation. We hypothesized that the anti-inflammatory benefits of higher dietary intake of omega-3 compared with omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids may modulate the inflammatory processes and decrease death risk. Prosp...

Periodic assessment of dietary intake across a given dialysis population may help to improve the clinical outcomes related to nutrients such as dietary protein, phosphorus, or potassium. Although dietary recalls and food records are used to assess dietary intake at individual level and over shorter periods, food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) are u...

Maintenance hemodialysis (MHD) patients with larger body or fat mass have greater survival than normal to low mass. We hypothesized that mid-arm muscle circumference (MAMC), a conveniently measured surrogate of lean body mass (LBM), has stronger association with clinical outcomes than triceps skinfold (TSF), a surrogate of fat mass. The association...

Hyperkalemia has been associated with higher mortality in long-term hemodialysis (HD) patients. There are few data concerning the relationship between dietary potassium intake and outcome. The mortality predictability of dietary potassium intake from reported food items estimated using the Block Food Frequency Questionnaire (FFQ) at the start of th...

Examining the quality and quantity of food intake by appropriate methods is critical in the management of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). The four commonly used dietary assessment methods in CKD patients include short-term dietary recalls, several days of food records with or without dietary interviews, urea kinetic based estimates such...