Quality of Life, BMI, and Physical Activity in Bariatric Surgery Patients: a Structural Equation Model

• Published in: Obesity surgery Vol. 30; no. 8; pp. 2927 - 2934
• Main Authors: Bottcher, Lara Belmudes, Bandeira, Paulo Felipe Ribeiro, Vieira, Nélio Barreto, Zaia, Victor, Lopes de Almeida, Roberto
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer US 01.08.2020; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Bariatric Surgery; Body Mass Index; Exercise; Gastrointestinal surgery; Humans; Medicine; Medicine & Public Health; Obesity, Morbid - surgery; Original Contributions; Quality of Life; Retrospective Studies; Structural equation modeling; Surgery; Bariatric Surgery; Quality of Life; Physical Activity; BMI
• ISSN: 0960-8923; 1708-0428; 1708-0428
• DOI: 10.1007/s11695-020-04615-z

Purpose The purpose of this study was to use a structural equation model to clarify how physical activity (PA), sex, and BMI relate to quality of life (QoL) of post-bariatric surgery patients. Methods The study had a retrospective cohort design for a convenience sample population of 886 bariatric subjects (38 ± 8.49 years). QoL was assessed using World Health Organization Quality of Life-BREF, PA using the International Physical Activity Questionnaire, and BMI values were calculated. Structural equation analysis was conducted in Mplus. Results The physical domain presented positive relationships with BMI ( p  = 0.014) and the very active group and negative with the insufficiently active A and B groups and sex ( p  < 0.001). The psychological domain presented negative associations with BMI and the very active group and positive with the insufficiently active A group. The social relations domain presented negative associations with BMI ( p  < 0.009) and the very active group ( p  < 0.002) and positive with the insufficiently active A ( p  < 0.007) and B ( p  < 0.019) groups. The environmental domain was negatively associated with BMI ( p  < 0.004) and the very active group ( p  < 0.001) and positively with the insufficiently active B group ( p  < 0.049) and sex ( p  < 0.018). Conclusion BMI is a negative predictor of QoL in bariatric patients and this trend was not observed in the physical domain only; also, the very active group was negatively associated with QoL. We believe that distortions in body weight/body size extend to PA, and research is needed to explore the psychological factors underlying the overestimation of the amount of PA performed.