Lifestyle Patterns in the Late Postoperative Period of Bariatric Surgery: a Descriptive Analysis of the CINTO Study

Background The behavior of patients undergoing metabolic bariatric surgery (MBS) has been widely investigated to better understand their attitudes and to formulate effective advisory strategies. Although these elements have been studied separately, the magnitude of these behaviors still needs to be determined from a combined factors approach. This study aimed to identify the lifestyle patterns of patients who underwent MBS 5 or more years ago. Methods In this observational study, 123 patients who underwent MBS at least 5 years ago were included. Anthropometric data, sociodemographic profile, dietary intake, physical activity level, sleeping, smoking, and alcohol consumption were collected for all participants. Lifestyle pattern was evaluated using principal component analysis (PCA) and the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) index was applied to evaluate data factorability. Results PCA identified two patterns of behavior adopted by the participants in the late postoperative (PO) period (more than 5 years PO) of MBS. In the first pattern, a positive correlation was found between consumption of ultra-processed foods ( r = 0.459), risky consumption of alcoholic beverages ( r = 0.630), and tobacco use ( r = 0.584). In the second, a positive correlation was observed between the consumption of unprocessed or minimally processed foods ( r = 0.692) and more sleep time per day ( r = 0.654). Conclusion After 5 years of PO, combined behavior analysis revealed healthy and unhealthy lifestyle patterns, which points to the relevance of permanent clinical follow-up of these patients to ensure the best health status. Graphical Abstract