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Bariatric Surgery Patients and Their Families: Health, Physical Activity, and Social Support

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Abstract

Background

This study evaluated the social environment of bariatric surgery patients in the preoperative period.

Methods

Forty bariatric surgery patients (mean = 46.2 ± 11.2 years), 35 adult cohabitating family members (mean = 45.2 ± 12.7 years), and 15 cohabitating children (mean = 11.5 ± 3.6 years) were recruited from a large rural medical center. Adult participants (patients and family members) completed height, weight, body composition, blood draws, and physical activity assessments (accelerometry), as well as eating behavior and social support inventories before the patient underwent bariatric surgery. Child participants completed demographic, height, and weight assessment only.

Results

Over 90 % of adult family members were overweight or obese (body mass index (BMI) ≥ 25 kg/m2, as were 50 % of children (BMI percentile ≥ 85 %). More than one third (37.1 %) of family members met the criteria for moderate to severe insulin resistance. Physical activity measured by accelerometry was moderately correlated between the patient and adult family members (r = 0.46, p = 0.023). Bariatric surgery patients reported high levels of social support from their family members on multiple social support measures.

Conclusions

Many family members of bariatric surgery patients also lived with obesity and related comorbidities, and demonstrate high sedentary behavior. However, patients reported high levels of support from family members, including support in following a healthy diet and engaging in physical activity. Engaging families in behavior change may help bariatric surgery patients and their families to become healthier.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Geisinger Health System, Danville, PA, USA

    Michelle R. Lent, Lisa Bailey-Davis, Brian A. Irving, G. Craig Wood, Adam M. Cook, Annemarie G. Hirsch, Christopher D. Still, Peter N. Benotti & Jennifer Franceschelli-Hosterman

Authors
  1. Michelle R. Lent
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  2. Lisa Bailey-Davis
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  3. Brian A. Irving
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  4. G. Craig Wood
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  5. Adam M. Cook
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  6. Annemarie G. Hirsch
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  7. Christopher D. Still
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  8. Peter N. Benotti
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  9. Jennifer Franceschelli-Hosterman
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Michelle R. Lent.

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Funding

Support for this project was provided by internal grants at Geisinger and NIH grants 1F32DK096756 and t P30 DK072488. These funding sources did not play any role in the study design, collection, analysis, interpretation of data, writing the manuscript, or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Ethical Statements

This study was approved by the Medical Center’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) and was performed in accordance with the ethical standards as laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Consent

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

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Lent, M.R., Bailey-Davis, L., Irving, B.A. et al. Bariatric Surgery Patients and Their Families: Health, Physical Activity, and Social Support. OBES SURG 26, 2981–2988 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11695-016-2228-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11695-016-2228-7

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