Beyond Weight Loss: Establishing a Postbariatric Surgery Patient Support Group—What Do Patients Want?

Table 1

Respondents were stratified according to whether they wanted (n = 88) or did not want (n = 64) a postoperative support group. Exact n numbers, mean, and standard deviations (SD) are given. There was no significant difference in age, time since surgery, preoperative weight, or average percentage total weight loss with surgery when these two groups were compared using a Student’s unpaired t-test. Chi-square proportion testing did not reveal any significant differences between the two groups in terms of gender or social class distribution, average weight regain, or operation type. values for each of these statistical comparisons are stated.

	Want a support group (n = 88)	Do not want a support group (n = 64)	Comparison value
% female	77% (n = 68)	77% (n = 49)
Average age (years)	50.4 (SD 10.0 yrs)	56.4 (SD 10.1 yrs)
Average time since surgery (years)	6.1 (SD 2.2 yrs)	5 (SD 7.4 yrs)
Operation type
Gastric band	12.50% (n = 11)	20.30% (n = 13)
RYGB	69.30% (n = 61)	53.10% (n = 35)
Sleeve gastrectomy	18.20% (n = 16)	26.60% (n = 17)
Average preoperative weight	138.3 kg (SD 25.1 kg)	142.9 kg (SD 28.4 kg)
Average percentage total weight loss	30.90% (SD 13.24)	27.70% (SD 13.32)
Average weight regain (proportion of max weight loss)	13.80%	11.32%
Weight regain
>15% of maximal loss	31.8% (n = 28)	25.0% (n = 16)
NEC (UK National Economic Census)
(1)	5.7% (n = 5)	9.4% (n = 6)
(2)	17.1% (n = 15)	15.6% (n = 10)
(3)	17.1% (n = 15)	7.8% (n = 5)
(4)	2.3% (n = 2)	4.7% (n = 3)
(5)	3.4% (n = 3)	1.6% (n = 1)
(6)	5.7% (n = 5)	10.9% (n = 7)
(7)	10.2% (n = 9)	7.8% (n = 5)
(8)	28.4% (n = 25)	29.7% (n = 19)
R (retired)	9.1% (n = 8)	12.5% (n = 8)