Efficacy and safety of endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty for obesity patients: a meta-analysis

Background Endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty (ESG) is a minimally invasive, effective, and safe technique for weight loss intervention. Since a relatively small number of cases were present in previous studies, this study aimed to elucidate the efficacy and safety of ESG. Methods Relevant publications were identified through searching PubMed, EMBASE, Cochrane, and Web of Science before March 1, 2019. The percentage of total body weight loss (%TBWL), percentage of excess weight loss (%EWL), and the adverse event rate in each follow-up session were extracted, pooled, and analyzed. Forest plots were graphed based on random effects models. Results A total of 1542 patients from nine studies were eligible for analysis. The pooled results of %TBWL at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months were 8.78% ( p = 0.000), 11.85% ( p = 0.000), 14.47% ( p = 0.024), and 16.09% ( p = 0.063), respectively. The pooled results of %EWL at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months were 31.16% ( p = 0.000), 43.61% ( p = 0.000), 53.14% ( p = 0.000), and 59.08% ( p = 0.015), respectively. Finally, the pooled rate of mild adverse events was 72% ( p