Predictors for health-related quality of life in patients accepted for bariatric surgery

Background: The relationship among musculoskeletal pain, depression, and health-related quality of life in patients with severe obesity who are accepted for bariatric surgery should be explored further. Methods: In this cross-sectional study. we measured the health-related quality of life using file generic questionnaire "Short-Form 36 Health status Survey." Multiple regression analysis was used to explore associations between the predictors (musculoskeletal pain and depression) and the physical cumulative summary) (PCS) and mental cumulative summary (MCS). Ape. gender. body mass index, and the number of co-morbidities were entered as covariates. Results: The study subjects included 28 women and 23 men, with a mean age of 37.7 years and a mean body mass index of 5 1.9 kg/m(2). The PCs and MCS scores were very poor compared with the age- and gender-adjusted population norm (P<.001). The presence of musculoskeletal pain was associated with a score that was 10.97 points lower oil the PCS (P <.001) and 7.05 points lower oil the MCS (P = .031). The presence of depression was associated with a Score that was 20.89 points lower oil the MCS (P <.001) no significant association Was found between depression and the PCs. Conclusion: The results of this study have shown that musculoskeletal pain was strongly associated with lower scores oil the PCs and MCS. and depression was strongly associated with a lower score on the MCS. (Surg Obes Relat Dis 2009:5:329-333.) (C) 2009 American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery. All rights reserved.