Back to Annual Meeting Program

Introduction:
Understanding eating patterns in patients following laparoscopic roux-en-Y-gastric bypass (LRYGB) is important to determine long term success. The purpose of this study was to analyze changes eating habits of patients following LRYGB using the three-factor eating questionnaire (TFEQ-R18).

Methods:
Demographic, preoperative, three, six and twelve month postoperative data were prospectively obtained for 204 consecutive laparoscopic RNYGB patients at a single academic institution. All patients enrolled in the study completed the three-factor eating questionnaire (TFEQ-R18), an 18 question inventory that measures 3 aspects of eating behavior: cognitive restraint, uncontrolled eating, and emotional eating at each clinic visit. Higher scores in each category indicate a higher degree of restraint or eating pattern. Patients were compared on the basis of age, gender and body-mass index (BMI). Data at pre-operative and TFEQ-R18 scores were analyzed with a one way ANOVA for continuous variables and chi-squared analysis for dichotomous variables using Stata/IC 11.1 and R2.13.1 software.

Results:
Patient mean demographics included BMI 47, age 47, 65% white, income \,100, 78% with private insurance, and 4 total preoperative comorbidities. Comorbidities included 43% with diabetes, 69% with hypertension, 53% with hyperlipidemia, 46% with GERD, 48% with sleep apnea, and 41% with depression. By 3 months postoperative, patients saw a significant reduction from their preoperative BMI to 42.3 kg/m2 (p<0.01). Patients saw a significant improvement in cognitive restraint from preoperative to 3, 6 and 12 months postoperative (54.1, 76.8, 73.5, 74.4; p<0.001); uncontrolled eating (39.3, 10.7, 13.0, 16.7; p<0.001); and emotional eating (44.6, 14.0, 16.0, 22.5; p<0.001). Patients over the age of 50 years had a significantly higher emotional eating score at 3 months postoperative (10.0 versus 19.6, p=0.01); however, these differences were no longer significant at 6 months postoperative.

Conclusions:
Patients undergoing LRYGB see significant improvements in their cognitive restraint, uncontrolled eating and emotional eating as early as 3 months postoperative, at which point their TFEQ-R18 scores are within population norms for healthy weight individuals. Eating behaviors may portend future weight maintenance success.