At 1 Year After Bariatric Surgery, Many Patients Have Less Pain and Better Physical Function

Bariatric surgery generally leads to substantial weight loss that often is maintained. However, whether bariatric surgery is associated with durable benefits for relieving pain and promoting physical function is unknown. Using a longitudinal database of 2221 adults (median age, 47; median baseline body-mass index, 46 kg/m²) who underwent bariatric surgery (70% Roux-en-Y gastric bypass; 25% laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding), researchers evaluated pain and physical function at 1 and 3 years after surgery.

Median weight loss during 3 years of follow-up was ≈33% for gastric-bypass patients and ≈16% for gastric-banding patients. Several measures of pain and physical function improved significantly from baseline to year 1 and then declined …