Quality of Life Assessment After Bariatric Surgery—a Single-Center Experience

Abstract

Obesity is a current pathology with many clinical, molecular, and psychological implications. The number of obese people has doubled in the past 10 years and we can observe an early onset of obesity. We have used a modified BAROS and SF36TM questionnaire to conduct a descriptive study on 34 obese patients undergoing surgery for obesity—laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG). The inclusion criteria were the embodiment of surgery for obesity: BMI (body mass index) >40 kg/m2 or BMI > 35 kg/m2 and associated comorbidities. The postoperative BMI was 25.7670 ± 3.74759 kg/m2 (mean ± SD). The average number of lost kilograms was 38.74 ± 12.526 (mean ± SD), and the average percentage of excess body weight loss (% EBWL) was 85.9952 ± 22.69028% (mean ± SD). Patients lost an average of 36.88–38.56 kg at 6–12 months after surgery, and they reach a % EBWL of 94.69 ± 30.02% and a normal BMI of 23.96 kg/m2 at 18 months postoperatively. All patients significantly reduced the amount of food eaten after surgery. More than 2 years after the surgery, patients increased their food intake by about 30%, but maintained their weight loss and a normal BMI. Related to quality of life, 77.78% of patients declared a vast improvement, 11% a good quality of life, and only 3.7% said that the quality of life is worse than before the surgery. Also, a relationship between quality of life and the improvement of sexual life, or with the increased frequency of physical exercise has been observed. Improving quality of life is directly related with the weight loss, with %EBWL, and with the postoperative BMI. Bariatric surgery should be understood in all the positive changes that it generates in everyday life.