Metabolic and psychological features are associated with weight loss 12 months after sleeve gastrectomy

CONTEXT: Laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) is a recognized effective procedure of bariatric surgery but a poor response in weight loss may still represent a clinical problem. To date there are no validated predictors useful to better perform patient selection.OBJECTIVE: to establish the association of baseline anthropometric, metabolic and psychologic features with the percent total (%TWL) and excess (%EWL) weight loss 12 months after surgery.DESIGN: retrospective longitudinal analysis of a set of data about obese attending the outpatients service of a single obesity center from June 2016 to June 2019.PATIENTS: 106 obese patients underwent LSG with pre-surgery evaluation and follow-up at 12 months after surgery.MAIN OUTCOME: weight loss 12 months after LSG.RESULTS: patients who achieved a %TWL higher than the observed median (≥34%) were younger, with a lower fasting plasma glucose and HbA1c, with a lower prevalence of hypertension and with a lower score in the impulsiveness scale, compared to the patients with a %TWL <34%. Similar findings were found when was considered %EWL. Multivariable stepwise regression analysis showed that younger age, lower impulsiveness, higher than normal urinary free cortisol and lower HbA1c were associates with higher %TWL, explaining about 31.5% of the outcome.CONCLUSION: metabolic and psychologic features at baseline were independently associated with weight loss and explained a non-negligible effect on the response to LSG. These data suggest that careful metabolic and psychologic profiling could help in sharper indications and personalized pre- and post-surgical follow-up protocols in candidates for LSG.