Effects of bariatric surgery on physical activity in daily life in women

Background: There is no conclusive evidence about long-term modification of physical activity (PA) habits and sedentary behavior after bariatric surgery (BS) in obese subjects. Objective: To evaluate objectively changes in physical activity in daily life (PADL) and energy expenditure (EE) up to 1-year after BS in severely obese people. Methods: Cohort study involving 37 women assessed at the preoperative period and then 30 days, 6 months and 1 year after BS. Assessments included physical function (six-minute walking distance test, 6MWD) and monitoring of EE, PA level index (PAL), time spent/day in moderate to vigorous PA (MVPA), light PA (LPA) and sedentary time (SenseWear Armband). Results: Twenty three women completed the study (47±8years; BMI 48±6kg/m 2 ). At baseline they had low EE in MET (0.87[0.84-1.06]ml/kg/min), high sedentary time (23[22.7-23.6]h/day), reduced MVPA (3[1.2-6.1]min/day) and 6MWD (469±79m). Six months after BS patients increased the 6MWD (515±77m; P=0.012) and MET (1.06[1-1.21]ml/kg/min; P Conclusions: The effective weight loss after BS, despite not resulting in increase in MVPA, generated positive changes in sedentary behavior and steps/day. Although changes were modest, they resulted in reduction of sedentary time and lower proportion of inactive patients in comparison to pre-surgery, which shows beneficial effects of BS on PADL.