Do Bariatric Patient Support Groups Influence Short-Term Surgical Outcomes? An Investigation into the True Value of Bariatric Patient Support Groups

Abstract

Introduction: In some bariatric services, patients have formed a support group, which is led exclusively by patients. Does attendance at such support groups influence outcomes? Background: Existing literature is from continental Europe and the United States and mainly focuses on single operation support groups. Most studies feature professional-led support groups. The success of a support group is difficult to measure, but hard outcome measures such as weight loss are available. Methods: At our institution in the United Kingdom, there is a complete prospectively compiled database of weight-loss outcomes from patients who have had the three types of surgery on offer: gastric bands, gastric bypasses, and sleeve gastrectomies. A total of 118 patients were contacted, and 100% took part in a telephone questionnaire survey. All patients were asked about attendance, frequency, and reasons for their answers. Preoperative body mass index (BMI), age, sex, and 12-month percentage excess weight loss (12m %EWL) was recorded from the database. Results: The 12m %EWL for band patients was 40.1% (attendees) and 46.4% (nonattendees). For bypass patients, it was 74.8% (attendees) and 75.6% (nonattendees). For sleeve patients, it was 51.3% (attendees) and 44.3% (nonattendees). Following gastric banding, the 12m %EWL was 28.1%, 42.7%, and 49.3% for patients attending either one, two to five, and more than five sessions respectively. For all surgical groups, the main reason cited for attendance was to be with like-minded people, and the main reason for nonattendance was being too busy to get to the group. Conclusions: For band patients, increasing frequency of attendance was associated with increasing 12m %EWL, in keeping with existing literature. For bypass and sleeve patients, there was no significant difference in weight-loss outcomes comparing attendees with nonattendees. This study, accepting the limitations of using 12m %EWL as a surrogate for success, appears to confer the psychosocial benefits of a support group but is not apparently required for absolute weight loss.