Weight loss and adherence to postoperative follow-up after vertical gastrectomy for obesity treatment

Abstract

Purpose: To analyze the effectiveness of vertical gastrectomy in the treatment of obese patients, adherence to clinical follow-up and the influence of factors such as gender and age.

Methods: This is a retrospective, observational and descriptive study, conducted with patients undergoing vertical gastrectomy, operated at Hospital São Domingos, between January 2016 and July 2018.

Results: Most patients undergoing vertical gastrectomy were female (n = 193, 72.28%) and had a mean age of37.11 ± 8.96 years old. The loss of follow-up was 56.18%. Among adherent patients (n = 117; 43.82%), most patients were female (n = 89; 76.07%) and had a mean age of 37.92 ± 9.85 years old. The mean body mass index (BMI) of the adherents in the preoperative was 37.85 ± 3.72 kg/m2. Both BMI and excess weight (EW) showed a statistically significant difference between pre- and postoperative period. Percentage of excess weight loss (% EWL) was satisfactory for 96.6% of adherent patients. Older patients had a statistically significant lower % EWL compared to the other groups.

Conclusions: Vertical gastrectomy was effective in the treatment of obese patients, with significant weight loss.

Figure 1. Comparison of measures of central trend of % EWL after 1 year of vertical gastrectomy between genders (male and female groups) (p < 0.05). P < 0.05 denoted by different symbols (* and **) between the experimental groups (Mann–Whitney test).

Figure 2. Comparison of means of % EWL among different age groups (years) (p < 0.05). P < 0.05 denoted by different letters (a, b) among the experimental groups (analysis of variance–ANOVA followed by the Tukey’s test).