Key result
Pre- and post-operative bariatric surgery exercise likely improves weight and physical capacity, pending definitive evidence.
Why the study?
Understanding how to incorporate exercise into metabolic and bariatric surgery programs to optimize treatment outcomes is of great interest, prompting a single cohesive resource exploring pre- and post-operative exercise training effects.
Does pre- and post-operative exercise training improve health outcomes in patients undergoing metabolic and bariatric surgery?
Does pre- and post-operative exercise training improve health outcomes in patients undergoing metabolic and bariatric surgery?
Pre- and post-operative exercise training in metabolic and bariatric surgery patients appears to improve various anthropometric and functional outcomes, though higher methodological rigor is needed in future studies.
Answers are grounded in this paper and cite their sources.
Supports considering exercise training around bariatric surgery; leaves open definitive confirmation in rigorous trials.
Understanding how to incorporate exercise into metabolic and bariatric surgery programs to optimize treatment outcomes is of great interest, as evidenced by 11 reviews published on this topic in 2022 alone. This overview of reviews was conducted to create a single cohesive resource to aid clinicians and researchers by exploring the effects of pre- and post-operative exercise training on health outcomes. A literature search of 7 electronic databases was performed (updated 09/2023) and 24 reviews met preset PICOS eligibility criteria and were included: 4 exploring preoperative exercise training, 13 postoperative, and 7 both. Comparing reviews, outcome results were organized as concordant, discordant, or inconclusive, and then categorized into "what we currently know", "what we think we know" and "what we still don't know". We do not currently know the effects of pre- or post-operative exercise training on any outcomes, but we think we know that preoperative exercise training has a positive effect on BMI and 6-minute walking test distance, and postoperative exercise training has a positive effect on body weight and BMI, waist circumference, bone mineral density, 6-minute walking test distance, muscle strength, and systolic blood pressure. Despite the abundance of research, much still needs to be done in terms of enhancing methodological rigor and reporting to achieve greater confidence in our conclusions; recommendations for the next research steps are made.
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Hussien et al. (2025) conducted a review in Metabolic and bariatric surgery. Exercise training (pre- and post-operative) was evaluated on Health outcomes including BMI, body weight, waist circumference, and physical capacity. Pre- and post-operative exercise training in bariatric surgery likely improves BMI, body weight, waist circumference, and physical capacity, though definitive evidence remains lacking.
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