Patients in this study averaged 44 years of age and had an average BMI of 49 kg/m2. The majority of the sample were: women with post-secondary or some post-secondary education in full or part- time employment. Health status was significantly impaired pre-surgery with patients reporting on average 5.4 comorbidities. OSA affected two thirds (65%) of the study sample while half of the sample reported having been diagnosed with hypertension (47%), dyslipidemia (48%) and back pain (51%). Almost half of the study sample reported having osteoarthritis (44%), T2DM (42%), GERD (43%) and gallbladder disease (40%). Pre-operatively, women and men did not differ significantly on select socio-demographics variables (i.e., age, income, education or employment status, although there were differences in comorbid profiles. A high prevalence of OSA was diagnosed in both sexes (65%), and rates were one third higher for men. Men also reported higher rates of dyslipidemia, hypertension and gout. In contrast, women reported double the rate of gallbladder disease/gallstones.
Pre-surgery HRQoL was significantly impaired in the study sample. Few patients reported problems with self-care; however, between 44% and 67% of patients reported problems with anxiety/depression, mobility, usual activities and pain and discomfort. Patient perceptions of general health and physical health were impaired more than mental health.
According to the weight-specific IWQOL-Lite scale, patients reported impairment on all scales (most to least impairment): Self Esteem, Physical Function, Public Distress, Sexual Life and Work. Significant differences in HRQoL were reported by women and men on self esteem, sexual life and the IWQOL total score.
Women self-reported better General Health as evidenced by higher scores on the SF-12v2 (39.3 vs. 32.9) and the VAS (61.5 vs. 52.0) and better Physical Health (PCS 37.2 vs. 33.3). Although 10% of the total patient sample reported problems with self care on the EQ-5D-3L, women reported significantly fewer problems in this area than men (9.5% vs. 25.0%). Based on the IWQOL-Lite, women reported greater weight associated impairment than men on Self Esteem (27.3 vs. 44.1) and Sexual Life (49.2 vs. 63.6).
Our study population, the majority of whom were women, is similar to other patients seeking treatment for severe obesity [2, 18, 32,33,34]. Patients undergoing bariatric surgery are more often female with an average pre-surgery weight and BMI of 124.5kgs and 46 kg/m2, respectively [2]. With respect to socio-demographics, our sample represents a high level of socio-economic status, with over 75% having some/full post-secondary education and half in higher income brackets. Findings on the relationship between socio-economic status and access to bariatric surgery are inconsistent, although in North America it appears that access to bariatric surgery has been reserved for those of higher social standing [18, 32, 35, 36]. This finding has been supported by publications that highlight inequities in access to bariatric surgery in Canada [13, 18]. Women and men had similar baseline characteristics, with the exception that women were less likely to be in partnered relationships, a finding similar to other studies [18, 32, 33, 37].
A very high level of obesity-related comorbidity was observed in the current study sample although the comorbid profile of patients seeking obesity treatment can vary signficantly by centre [18, 33, 38, 39]. In the Alberta population-based prospective evaluation of the quality of life outcomes and economic impact of bariatric surgery (APPLES) study, Padwal et al., assessed 150 bariatric surgical patients in Alberta, Canada. Compared to the current study, the APPLES authors reported higher rates of hypertension (61% vs. 47%) and dyslipidemia (60% vs. 48%) in their pre-surgery population, but similar rates of T2DM (42% vs. 44%) [38]. In contrast, compared to national Canadian data published on bariatric surgery recipients, obesity-related comorbidity was much higher in our study population with higher rates of hypertension (47% vs.13%), dyslipidemia (48% vs. 2.4%) and T2DM (42% vs. 21%) [18]. This variation may be partly explained by the fact that Newfoundland and Labrador has the highest rates of T2DM and CVD in Canada [40, 41]. Although, there may be potential under-coding of pre-existing conditions in administrative datasets when compared to prospectively collected data [18]. High levels of comorbidity may be one factor that motivates patients to seek treatment for severe obesity. [39, 42] In previous research conducted at our centre, individuals seeking treatment for severe obesity reported health concerns as the primary reason for wanting to lose weight, similar to other studies [21]. In the current study, the prevalence of comorbid conditions differed between women and men seeking treatment (e.g., OSA, dyslipidemia, hypertension, gout, and gallbladder disease/gallstones) similar to a study of over 200 patients undergoing bariatric surgery conducted in Germany from the University Hospital Heidelberg. In this study the authors examined patient expectations of surgery and collected data on baseline comorbidity. A similar prevalence of hypertension was reported with men more likely than women to be affected. Although much lower prevalences of OSA and dyslipidemia were reported, men were twice as likely to report being affected than women. [39] Gender differences in the rates of OSA and risk factors for CVD are often reported, but differences in the rates of other conditions are more inconsistent [33, 39, 43, 44].
Consistent with the results of other published studies, individuals seeking obesity treatment in the current study, demonstrated significantly impaired HRQoL compared to: the general population, individuals with overweight/obesity, or those with severe obesity not seeking surgical treatment. [23, 45,46,47] Studies consistently demonstrate that in individuals seeking treatment for severe obesity, physical health is impacted more than mental health [5, 32, 46, 48], although the magnitude of the impact varies. In the current study, the PCS of 36.4 is lower than the PCS of 41.5 reported by Warkentin et al., in the Canadian APPLES study [49] although the MCS score of 47.8 is more comparable to the APPLES results of 46.9. Compared to the Utah Obesity Study [50], a prospective cohort study of over 400 patients accessing Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass (RYGB), the current study’s pre-surgery HRQoL scores are higher than those reported by the authors (PCS 31.4, MCS 41.4). In a study on pre-surgical patients conducted in Germany, the authors reported a similar PCS to the current study (34.3 versus 36.4), although the MCS was lower (42.1 versus 47.8). In both these studies the direction of the impairment remained similar in that physicial health was impacted more than mental health. [48] The EQ index of 0.78 reported in the current study is similar to that reported by the APPLES Study authors (0.79), and significantly lower than population norms (0.82). Surgical patients in the current study reported overall health (VAS 59.8) that was slightly lower than the APPLES study authors (VAS 63.6) and significantly lower than population norms (VAS 78.8) [49, 51].
Similar to other studies, patients seeking surgical treatment for severe obesity report significantly impaired weight-related HRQoL, although the level of impairment varies [23, 46, 50]. In the current study, the total IWQOL-Lite score (0–100), was 43.2, which was lower than scores reported by Padwal et al., in the APPLES study (IWQOL-Lite: 49.9) [47] or Belle et al., in the US Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery (LABS), (IWQOL-Lite 46.8) [52] but higher than that reported by the Utah Obesity Study (IWQOL-Lite 41.8) [50]. These total scores are well below those reported by the general population (IWQOL-Lite 94.7) and lower than those reported by individuals living with severe obesity not seeking surgical treatment (IWQOL-Lite 54.9) [52]. Similar to other studies using North American data, in the current study, the domains most impacted by weight in decreasing order of impact were self-esteem, physical health, public distress, sexual life and work [37, 52], but are in contrast to data from Europe where patients report that weight impairs physical function more than self-esteem. [37, 46] It is an interesting finding that work life was reported as least impaired by weight in the current study and in other published studies [37, 52] as research suggests that absenteeism from work and more importantly presenteeism are much higher in individuals living with severe obesity compared to other BMI categories [53]. This is an area that could warrant further exploration.
Gender analysis
Significant differences were found between women and men with respect to HRQoL. Women reported better General Health on the SF-12v2 (39.3 vs. 32.9) and the EQ-5D VAS (61.5 vs. 52.0) and better Physical Health (SF-12v2: PCS 37.2 vs. 33.3). This finding is inconsistent with studies by Kolotkin et al. who found that General Health was more impaired in women than men [33] and Karlsson [6] and Belle [52] who found no gender differences in General Health or physical HRQoL. In the current study, this may be partly explained by the fnding that fewer women reported having problems with Self Care compared to men (9.5% vs. 25.0%). Accordng to the IWQOL-Lite, weight impacted self-esteem and sexual life more in women than men.
Previous research on gender differences using the IWQOL-Lite has been inconsistent, however the weight-related impairment consistently affects women more than men in the domains self-esteem and sexual life [30, 33, 37, 52, 54, 55]. Stout et al., found no gender differences on the IWQOL-Lite scores. [54] In contrast, other studies have reported differences, but not in the same domains. Kolotkin et al. [33] and Belle et al. [52] report gender differences in self-esteem, sexual life, work and total score while White et al. [55] report gender differences in physical function, self-esteem, sexual life and total score. In a study by Caxias et al., [37] assessing HRQoL in bariatric surgery treatment seeking individuals in North America, gender differences are limited to self-esteem, sexual life and total score with women reporting greater impairment than men. The consistency of study findings in this area and across numerous studies suggest that weight negatively impacts these psychosocial domains in women more than men and may be a leading reason for why women seek treatment for severe obesity four to five times more often than men in North America. Previous qualitative research has shown that women seeking bariatric surgery are more likely than men to have weight and body image concerns. [56] The gender difference in uptake of bariatric surgery may also be partly explained by the fact that women seek out health care services in general and for mental health concerns more often than men [57].
Strengths of this study include: the use of three validated instruments to assess generic and obesity-specific HRQoL; the availability of key socio-demographic variables and comorbidity data to allows for exploration of and gender comparisons among these variables. Examining gender differences in HRQoL may provide a potential explanation for this reported imbalance of bariatric surgery seeking behaviors of women as opposed to men. This study also has some limitations. First, it is difficult to infer a causal relationship exists between severe obesity and HRQoL in a cross-sectional study. Methodological challenges of reverse causality and temporality are inherent in this study design. Second, most comorbidities were self-reported. Third, we did not have access to specific data on depression, although the EQ-5D-3L data reports that almost half the study sample reported problems with depression/anxiety, and there were no gender differences observed. Although depression is often seen as an important determinant of HRQoL, studies report varying degrees of depression in patients seeking bariatric surgery contingent on assessment type (i.e., self-report versus diagnosis by a healthcare professional) that range from one to two thirds of the population, with inconsistent results on gender differences. [33, 49, 52] Finally, as the current study took place in one Canadian province, it may lack generalizability to other populations; however, the socio-demographics, comorbid profile and HRQoL of our patients are comparable to those in North America and other centres [9, 32, 52].
Future research should explore reasons why men are less likely to seek out bariatric surgery than women as this may signal potential sex-related disparities in access to bariatric surgery [35, 36]. For example, there may be inherent biases in referral patterns for bariatric surgery or different health-seeking behaviors between women and men. [57] A better understanding of why weight appears to impact women more than men in psychosocial areas is also warranted especially in the context of societal pressures [13, 33, 56]. In addition, the impact of surgery on HRQoL in the short, medium and specifically long term should be explored. The publication of HRQoL data 2 to 4 years after bariatric surgery for this study sample is planned.