Linking overall satisfaction after bariatric surgery with health-related quality of life: a cross-sectional study across varied postoperative time points.

BACKGROUND: Initial satisfaction with bariatric surgery is generally high but tends to diminish over time. Impairments in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) likely contribute to this decline. Still, the extent to which HRQoL domains influence overall satisfaction after surgery remains unclear. OBJECTIVES: We examined the associations between a comprehensive HRQoL model and overall satisfaction after bariatric surgery and whether a smaller set of obesity-specific HRQoL measures could sufficiently account for this outcome. SETTING: General hospitals, Norway. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 373 patients, with time since bariatric surgery ranging from 3 months to 10 years. Partial least squares (PLS) regression models were employed, with overall satisfaction as the dependent variable and 30 distinct HRQoL outcomes as independent variables. We also evaluated whether a smaller model of obesity-specific HRQoL measures could adequately explain variations in overall satisfaction while maintaining robust explanatory power. RESULTS: The full HRQoL PLS regression model explained 39.3% of the variance in overall satisfaction. A simplified model with four obesity-specific measures explained 35.6%, which increased to 43.1% when body mass index (BMI) was added. The logistic regression analysis indicated that poorer obesity-specific HRQoL and a higher BMI were independently associated with lower overall satisfaction, with an area under the curve of .90, indicating excellent model performance. CONCLUSION: A simplified obesity-specific HRQoL model, along with BMI, was strongly associated with overall satisfaction after bariatric surgery, suggesting that a few HRQoL outcomes may effectively capture its key determinants.

Duke Scholars

Author Ronette L Kolotkin Family Medicine and Community Health, Diet & Fitness Center