Laparoscopic Gastric Bypass for Morbid Obesity Decreases Bodily Pain, Improves Physical Functioning, and Mental and General Health in Women

Introduction: Surgery is an effective long-term therapeutic option for morbid obese patients. Although bariatric surgery's amelioration of medical ailments is well established, its nonphysical benefits have not been as well documented.

Methods: Women who had undergone laparoscopic gastric bypass between August 2003 and May 2005 were provided with an SF-36 1 month before surgery, as well as 1, 3, 6, 9, 12, 15, and 18 months after surgery. Those women who completed three surveys were included in this study. Scores were summed for each of six areas analyzed: physical function, physical role limitations, emotional role limitations, bodily pain, mental health, and general health. The results of the preoperative and the last postoperative surveys were compared using Wilcoxon's signed-rank test.

Results: Of 91 women considered for this study, 40 (44%) completed at least three postoperative surveys. For bodily pain, physical function, physical role limitations, mental health, and general health, median postoperative exceeded median preoperative scores (P < 0.004 for each analysis); for emotional role limitations, the median postoperative score was the same as the median preoperative score.

Conclusions: In women, gastric bypass for morbid obesity decreases bodily pain and physical role limitations, and improves physical functioning as well as mental and general health. The positive impact of laparoscopic gastric bypass is thus validated by the SF-36 questionnaire.