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Physical training following gastric bypass: effects on physical activity and quality of life—a randomized controlled trial

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Abstract

Background

Obesity is associated with physical inactivity and impaired health-related quality of life (HRQoL). We aim to test the hypothesis that Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) followed by supervised physical training improves physical activity (PA) levels and HRQoL.

Methods

Sixty patients, qualified for RYGB, were at 6 months post-surgery randomized to 26 weeks of a supervised physical training intervention (INT) or to a control (CON) group. PA was assessed by accelerometry and using the questionnaire RPAQ. HRQoL was measured by the SF-36 questionnaire. All assessments were performed pre-surgery and 6, 12, and 24 months post-surgery.

Results

RYGB did not improve objectively or self-reported PA, but improved all domains of SF-36 (all p < 0.01). Objectively measured light PA, moderate to vigorous PA, and step counts tended to increase in INT compared to CON 12 months after RYGB (0.05 < p < 0.09), but the effects failed to persist. The SF-36 domain “general health” increased in INT compared to CON 24 months after RYGB (p = 0.041).

Conclusion

RYGB improves HRQoL, but does not increase PA. Supervised physical training intervention improves general health 24 months after RYGB and tends to improve certain domains of PA right after the intervention period, but fails to increase the patients’ overall PA level over time. Clinical Trial Registration Registered at ClinicalTrials.gov—no. NCT01690728.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the study participants for their contribution to this study. We would also like to thank the physiotherapists involved in this study, for putting a large amount of effort into the supervised physical training intervention.

Funding

The research was supported by the Department of Regional Health Research, University of Southern Denmark and Hospital of Southwest Jutland, Denmark; the Department of Medicine/Endocrinology, Hospital of Southwest Jutland, Denmark; The Region of Southern Denmark; The Karola Jørgensen Research Foundation; The Edith and Vagn Hedegaard Jensens Foundation; and The Family Hede Nielsens Foundation.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine/Endocrinology, Hospital of Southwest Jutland, Esbjerg, Denmark

    Charlotte Røn Stolberg, Lene Hymøller Mundbjerg & Claus Bogh Juhl

  2. Department of Regional Health Research/Center Southwest Jutland, University of Southern Denmark/Hospital of Southwest Jutland, Esbjerg, Denmark

    Charlotte Røn Stolberg, Lene Hymøller Mundbjerg, Else-Marie Bladbjerg, Bibi Gram & Claus Bogh Juhl

  3. OPEN, Odense Patient data Explorative Network, Odense University Hospital, Odense, Denmark

    Charlotte Røn Stolberg & Lene Hymøller Mundbjerg

  4. Unit for Thrombosis Research, Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Hospital of Southwest Jutland, Esbjerg, Denmark

    Else-Marie Bladbjerg

  5. Department of Clinical Medicine, Aarhus University Hospital, Aarhus, Denmark

    Peter Funch-Jensen

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  1. Charlotte Røn Stolberg
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  2. Lene Hymøller Mundbjerg
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Contributions

CRS, LHM, and BG carried out the experiments. CRS analyzed data. All authors were involved in writing the paper and final approval of the submitted and published versions.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Charlotte Røn Stolberg.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

The study was conducted according to the Helsinki Declaration, approved by the local ethics committee (Project-ID: S-20120112), and registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (No. NCT01690728).

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Stolberg, C.R., Mundbjerg, L.H., Bladbjerg, EM. et al. Physical training following gastric bypass: effects on physical activity and quality of life—a randomized controlled trial. Qual Life Res 27, 3113–3122 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-018-1938-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-018-1938-9

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