Quality of life after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy – review of literature

Background: The last decade brought changes the most frequently performed types of bariatric procedures. Despite the well-documented positive impact of bariatric surgery on depression, somatic comorbidities, lifespan prolongation and cancer risk, there is still insufficient data on patients’ quality of life (QoL) after this operation. Methods: PubMed and Scopus databases as well as Mendeley search engine were used to find publications from last ten years focusing on QoL after LSG. 702 abstracts were reviewed. 13 articles with 1630 patients in total were analyzed. Results: Six different QoL assessment tools were described in the reviewed literature: SF-36, BAROS, Moorehead-Ardelt II questionnaire, IWQOL-Lite, GIQLI and SF8. In majority of studies the QoL was improved. Preand postoperative assessment with SF-36 showed significant improvement. The mean BAROS score was 5.1-7.1 with 77-96% of patients achieving “good” to “excellent” outcomes. In some studies, QoL was better in females and in one study QoL was below the general population norms. Some studies demonstrated lack of improvement in QoL after LSG or no correlation between excess weight loss and health related QOL. Conclusions: High quality research about QoL after LSG is limited, though quality of life seems to be better after that procedure.