Background: The Netherlands has a population of 20,000 morbidly obese patients, an average of 350 of whom per year undergo a stomach reduction operation involving the surgical placement of a Lap-Band(R). The quality of life (QOL) of a sample of female patients who underwent this operation was studied in a 1-year postoperative study. Methods: The Medical Outcome Study Short Form-36 (MOS SF-36) was used to assess 1-year postoperative quality of life among a sample of 39 female patients aged 19-53 years. QOL was measured at most 20 h preoperatively and 1 year postoperatively using a randomized pretest/posttest design. Statistical data, after transformation, were analyzed with SPSS Version 7.5 for Windows 95. Results: The response rate of 92.9% of patients polled was good, in contrast to earlier findings with this measuring instrument. Mean body mass index (BMI) declined from 40.86 kg/m(2) preoperatively to 33.14 kg/m(2) 1 year postoperatively. QOL improved on all scores in the MOS SF-36. Internal consistency of the scales used was high. Conclusions: The response rate to the MOS SF-36 questionnaire was high. The surgical placement of a Lap-Bands resulted in a significant improvement of QOL (1 year postoperatively) on all scores used. The internal consistency of the scales used was high.
