The effect of body satisfaction on female sexual life after bariatric surgery: a follow-up study

Abstract

Aim: Discomfort with body shape is common among individuals with obesity and has effects on their sexual life. We aimed to investigate the effects of bariatric surgery on the body satisfaction and sexual life of women in this study. Material and Method: The study consisted of 63 female patients who were aged between 20 and 55. Pre-operative psychiatric evaluations of the candidates were conducted and Hamilton Anxiety Scale , Hamilton Depression Scale, Arizona Sexual Experiences Questionnaire and Body Shape Questionnaire were used. Psychiatric evaluations of the patients were re-evaluated in the first year after surgery. Results: The mean age was 35.4±8.6 years. While 87.3% of the participants had moderate-severe anxiety about the appearance of their bodies before the operation, 57.1% described problems in their sexual life. After the operation, 63.5% of the participants stated that they did not have any concerns about their body appearance, and 73% stated that they did not have any problems in their sexual life. The BSQ-34 scale score was found to be higher in those with an Arizona score of 11 and above before the operation (p=0.045; p<0.05). The results of the correlation analysis indicated that a positive (r=0.257) correlation was found between the pre-operative ASEX score and the BSQ34 scale score (p<0.05). The positive correlation between ASEX and BSQ34 scale score was also observed after the operation (p<0.05). Conclusion: Our study showed that body dissatisfaction caused by obesity negatively affected sexual life and that increased satisfaction after bariatric surgery made positive contributions to sexual life.

Keywords

• Sexual life
• body satisfaction
• bariatric surgery

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