Assessment of quality of life of patients with morbid obesity in a two-stage approach to their surgical treatment

Obesity leads to increased morbidity, disability, mortality and, crucially – decrease in the quality of life. As a tool for analyzing the quality of life, general nonspecific and specific questionnaires, preferring the latter are widely used. 97 patients with morbid obesity of III-IV class of operative-anesthetic risk according to the scale of the American Society of Anaesthesiologists were examined and treated. Two-stage treatment of patients was carried out as follows: in the patients of the main group intragastric balloon was used as the first stage for 6 months, patients of the control group were administered conservative therapy which included diet, physical activity and behavioral therapy. The quality of life was assessed using the Obesity and Weight-Loss Quality-of-Life Instrument (OWLQOL) -17 questionnaire. At the first stage, the mean percent of excess body weight loss % EWL in the main group was 22.69±5.87% being statistically significantly (p<0.001) higher than that obtained in the control group. The index of the total sum of quality-of-life scores increased statistically significantly (p<0.001) in 6 months in the main group of patients, in contrast to the control group. At the second stage, the average percentage of excess body weight loss was 55.27±7.62%. The index of the total sum of quality of life scores increased statistically from 37.43±4.53 before the bariatric operation to 64.91±5.72 12 months after its implementation (p<0.001). The average percentage of loss of excessive body weight at the end of the course of treatment reached 65.28±6.65% on average. Correlation analysis of percentages of excessive body weight loss and quality of life showed a direct average relationship between these indexes (r=0.64, p<0.001).