Health-Related Quality of Life 5 Years After Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass in Young (18–25 Years) Versus Older (≥ 26 Years) Adults: a Scandinavian Obesity Surgery Registry Study

BACKGROUND: To compare changes in health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in young (18-25 years) versus older (≥ 26 years) adults up to 5 years after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB). METHODS: Data on Short Form-36 (SF-36) and obesity-related problems scale (OP) at baseline and 1, 2, and 5 years after RYGB were extracted from the Scandinavian Obesity Surgery Registry. Within-group changes and the effect of age group on 5-year changes in SF-36 and OP were analyzed. Effects sizes (ESs) were calculated. RESULTS: A total of 2542 young and 12,425 older adults were included at baseline, and 138 young (20.7% of those eligible) and 1021 older (31.8%) adults were followed-up 5 years post-RYGB. At this time, average to large improvements (ES ≥ 0.5) were observed in physical functioning, physical component score and OP in young adults, and in physical functioning, role physical, general health, physical component score, and OP in older adults (all, p ≤ 0.001). Both age groups displayed negligible to weak (ES < 0.5) or no improvements in mental HRQoL (all, p < 0.55). Older adults displayed greater 5-year improvements than their young counterparts in role physical, general health, vitality, social functioning, physical component score, and obesity-related problems scale (all, p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Both young and older adults displayed improvements in OP and physical HRQoL 5 years post-RYGB compared to baseline, while mental HRQoL did not improve to the same extent. Greater HRQoL-improvements could be expected in older patients why future research on HRQoL post-RYGB should stratify data on age groups.