Pharmacokinetic changes post–bariatric surgery: A scoping review

Summary Bariatric surgeries induce structural changes that can alter the absorption of drugs in patients already at risk of polypharmacy. This scoping review aimed to explore pharmacokinetic changes of orally administered drugs in patients post‐bariatric surgery, and assess the quality and level of bias. Electronic databases were searched for articles relating to bariatric surgery and pharmacokinetics published between 1998 and 2019. Pre‐post studies reporting on pharmacokinetic parameters were included, and the Newcastle‐Ottawa Scale was used to assess risk‐of‐bias. A total of 21 studies were included in this review, and changes in absorption were reported in all included studies across 29 drugs. In 11 studies, this change was reported as statistically significant (p