Assessment of self‐rated health 5 years after Roux‐en‐Y gastric bypass for severe obesity

Abstract

Background Patients' perceptions of health change after bariatric surgery are complex. The aim of this study was to explore whether self‐rated health (SRH), a widely used tool in public health research, might be relevant as an outcome measure after Roux‐en‐Y gastric bypass (RYGB) for severe obesity. Methods This was a single‐centre retrospective study of a local quality registry. SRH score was registered at baseline and 5 years after RYGB. SRH, one of the 36 items in the quality‐of‐life Short Form 36 (SF‐36®) questionnaire, is the answer to this single question: ‘In general, would you say your health is excellent (1), very good (2), good (3), fair (4) or poor (5)?’ Change in SRH was analysed in relation to change in weight, co‐morbidities and quality of life after 5 years. Results Of a total of 359 patients who underwent RYGB between September 2006 and February 2011, 233 (64·9 per cent) reported on SRH before and 5 years after surgery. Of these, 180 (77·3 per cent) were women, and the mean(s.d.) age was 40(9) years. Some 154 patients (66·1 per cent) reported an improvement in SRH, 60 (25·8 per cent) had no change, and SRH decreased in 19 patients (8·2 per cent). SRH in improvers was related to better scores in all SF‐36® domains, whereas SRH in non‐improvers was related to unchanged or worsened scores in all SF‐36® domains except physical function. Conclusion Two‐thirds of patients reported improved SRH 5 years after RYGB for severe obesity. In view of its simplicity, SRH may be an easy‐to‐use outcome measure in bariatric surgery.

Self-Reported Gastrointestinal Symptoms Two To Four Years After Bariatric Surgery. A Cross-Sectional Study Comparing Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass and Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy

“…Self-rated health (SRH) is a simple, spontaneous subjective assessment of a person’s health status rated on a 5-point scale from excellent to poor [ 18 ]. SRH is a relevant and valid outcome measure for bariatric surgery [ 20 ].…”

“…We found no evidence of a difference in SRH 2 to 4 years after bariatric surgery between the groups, and most of the participants (87 and 71% for RYGBP and LSG, respectively) rated their health as good. Similarly, in a 5-year follow-up study after RYGBP, Sandvik et al (2019) found improved SRH in two-thirds of the participants [20]. Several studies of bariatric surgery have used more comprehensive patient reported outcome measures (PROMs).…”

“…Self-rated health (SRH) is a good predictor of morbidity, mortality, and healthcare use [ 18 ], and chronic pain is independently associated with SRH [ 19 ]. Most patients experience improvement of quality of life (QoL) after RYGBP or LSG surgery [ 20 , 21 ], often related to WL [ 22 , 23 ] but also to reduced prevalence and intensity of GI symptoms and abdominal pain [ 9 , 10 ].…”

The Unique Role of Self-Rated Health in Metabolic Syndrome and its Diagnostic Cardiometabolic Abnormalities: An Analysis of Population-Based Data

“…Poor SRH is linked to abnormal waist circumference (OR = 1.27, 95% CI: 1.03, 1.59), deficient high density lipoprotein (HDL) [5]. Poor SRH is also implicated in hypertriglyceridemia, insulin resistance [2], elevated BMI and waist/hip ratio [6,7,[28][29][30] and blood pressure [31][32][33]. A recent population-based cohort study of SRH and MetS in 85,377 metabolically healthy men and women found that poorer SRH was associated with a greater risk of developing metabolic abnormalities including hypertriglyceridemia and insulin resistance [2].…”