Evaluation of eating habits and lifestyle in obese patients before and after bariatric surgery

Introduction: e lack of improvement in eating habits and lifestyle in bariatric patients might predict the unsuccessful maintenance of body weight reduction at long term*. We aimed to evaluate eating habits and lifestyle of obese patients who have undergone Gastric Bypass Roux-en-Y (RYGB) and Sleeve Gastrectomy (SG). Methods: We retrospectively analyzed dietary habits (A), food frequen- cies (B), physical activity (C) and smoking habits (D) in 50 RYGB (25M; aged: 24–64; BMI: 44.8 ± 6.8 kg/m2) and 50 SG patients (25M; aged: 22– 63; BMI: 44.5 ± 7.4 kg/m2) by means of a validated questionnaire, before (T0) and a er 6 months (T1) from bariatric surgery. A score for each sec- tion (A, B, C, D) was calculated. e score assigned to each item ranged 0–3 points; maximum score corresponding to the best response. Results: ANOVA analysis, age/gender adjusted: • A and B scores improved signi cantly at T6 (RYGB and SG: p < 0.001), • C score did not reach the signi cance, • D score did not change at T6 neither in RYGB nor in SG. Multilevel models: • A and C scores did not correlate with independent variables (age, gen- der, weight, BMI, ideal and relative weight) neither in RYGB nor in SG, • B score was negatively correlated both with weight (BYPGR: p = 0.002) and with BMI (SG: p = 0.003), • D score positively correlated with age, only in SG (p = 0.002), being the correlation stronger in females than in males (p = 0.004). Conclusion: Although dietary habits slightly improved, overall patients did not change their physical activity levels and smoking habits at T6. is was probably due to an incorrect perception about bariatric surgery procedures that reduce drastically weight in the short-term but need to be supported by an adequate lifestyle intervention program over the long term.