Quality of Life After Ariatric Surgery

Background: Obesity impairs Health Related Quality of Life (HRQL) apparently,

greater impairment associated with higher degrees of obesity. There are a few

effective weight control options for persons with extreme obesity. When diet and

exercise fail, bariatric surgery (BS) becomes the only option for obese.

Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy (LSG) is the popular bariatric surgical procedure

currently adopted worldwide. The number of bariatric procedures has been

dramatically increased over the past decades in the whole world including India.

Therefore, improvement in HRQL after LSG has become an area of concern and

research. Multifarious studies have been done on weight loss and co-morbidities

after bariatric surgical procedures abroad with a few in India. However, difficulties

among some surgical patients to control and maintain weight loss over time and to

improve their psychosocial aspects of life should not be ignored. Moreover,

additional surgeries that may be required to handle the excess flabby skin altering

the body image and the long term complications after surgery like stricture,

nutritional deficiencies, and gastro oesophageal reflux disease (GERD) may cause

confusion in the patient about the impact of BS.

Methodology: The primary objective of the study was to determine the QoL of

patients after BS in comparison with obese patients who have not undergone BS.

The null hypothesis stated was "There will be no significant difference between the

mean QoL scores of obese patients after BS (BS group) and obese patients who did

not undergo BS (Obese group)". A quantitative, cross sectional, analytical method

was considered appropriate to achieve the objectives. The sample size was 200

(100 in BS group and 100 in obese group). Post LSG patients from six months to

six years between 18-68 years were included in the BS group. Obese individuals

who meet the selection criteria for BS as per ASMBS 2012 and who did not undergo

BS between 18-68 years were selected as obese group. Non probability convenience

sampling was used for selection of the subjects. As the likelihood of the study

subjects being available in the hospital OPDs six months after surgery was unlikely,

data from 50% of study subjects were taken directly as they visited the respective

OPDs and data from 50% through telephonic interview in both the groups. RAND

SF 36 Item Health Survey version 1.0 (SF-36) questionnaire was used to collect

data.