Quality of life and psychosocial adjustment in patients after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass: A brief report

Background: While Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGBP) appears to be the most e ffective procedure for weight loss in morbidly obese patients, objective ou tcome data regarding quality of life (QoL) and psychosocial status followin g surgery are lacking. Methods: The present study examined the effects of RYGBP in 32 morbidly obe se subjects on a variety of outcome measures including QoL and psychosocial functioning. Assessments were conducted before surgery, 1 to 3 weeks post- surgery, and at 6-month follow-up. Results: In addition to weight loss, results show significant improvements in health-related QoL, depression, and self-esteem, as well as a significan t reduction in eating pathology following surgery. Results also show that n either the presence of binge-eating disorder nor clinical depression predic ted poorer outcome post-surgery. Conclusion: RYGBP results in a dramatic reduction in weight, and marked imp rovements in health-related QoL, depression, self-esteem, and eating pathol ogy, including binge-eating in the short term. These findings need to be re plicated in a larger cohort of patients and followed for a longer time befo re we can reach more definitive conclusions regarding the psychosocial outc ome in RYGBP.