Boosting Dietary Compliance After Bariatric Surgery: Winning Tactics for Patients

Bariatric metabolic surgery has emerged as a pivotal intervention for managing obesity, with strict adherence to postoperative nutritional guidelines being paramount for patient outcomes. This study seeks to evaluate dietary compliance levels and the factors that influence them among patients who have undergone bariatric surgery, offering insights to enhance clinical strategies.

Our research encompassed patients who underwent bariatric metabolic surgery at our institution from February 2022 to December 2023. We utilised a validated dietary compliance scale to assess how well patients followed postoperative nutritional advice. To determine factors linked to dietary compliance, we conducted Pearson correlation and logistic regression analyses.

The study comprised 176 individuals who underwent bariatric metabolic surgery, with a concerning 60.23% exhibiting inadequate dietary compliance. The Pearson correlation analysis revealed significant correlations between poor dietary compliance and several demographic factors: age (r = -0.516), gender (r = 0.467), educational attainment (r = -0.605) and monthly household income (r = -0.558). Logistic regression analysis confirmed age (OR = -2.157, 95% CI: -3.120 to -1.403), gender (OR = 2.006, 95% CI: 1.821-2.665), education level (OR = -3.081, 95% CI: -4.147 to -1.679), and average monthly family income (OR = -2.847, 95% CI: -3.516 to -1.225) as independent predictors of poor dietary compliance in post-bariatric metabolic surgery patients.

The high incidence of poor dietary compliance among patients following bariatric metabolic surgery is a significant concern and is notably influenced by demographic variables such as age, gender, education and economic status. It is imperative for healthcare professionals to consider these variables when developing personalised interventions aimed at improving dietary compliance within this patient group.