Given that circulating levels of GDF15 can be influenced by various factors including surgery type, sex, age, presence of metabolic syndrome, and medication (Asrih et al. 2023, Li et al. 2024a, Dong & Xu 2024), accurately characterizing the study population is essential to fully understand the role of circulating GDF15 levels in BS outcomes. The gene discussed is GDF15; the disease is metabolic syndrome.