Background

According to the National Institute of Health, obesity is a national epidemic. Bariatric surgery is considered the sustained weight reduction option for obese patients. As of date, various methods for identifying pre-surgical bariatric candidacy exists (Sogg et al., 2016). We utilized a widely used personality instrument as one of the instruments- PAI in addition to the formal interview process for medical appropriateness.

Methods

Thirty three patients (27 females and 6 males), age (mean = 42.54 years, sd =11.40, range 19 to 68), Education (mean = 13.5 years, sd = 2.06) with group average BMI (kg/m2) = 46.63 were administered the PAI prior to their surgical procedure. Sixty four percent were Hispanic while almost 20% were AA. Average female body fat percentage = 60.19 and average male body fat percentage= 50.19.

Results

We identified a statistical trend towards this diverse yet unique social economic group. The scores approached a reference point where concerns for symptom complaints and exhibiting problems of a particular type. Specifically, the Somatic Complaints-Conversion Scale, Somatic Complaints-Somatization Scale and Somatic Complaints-Health Concerns Scale show promise in identifying patients experiencing symptoms and problems areas of this patient population.

Conclusions

The Somatic Scores above did not reach the clinical cut score for statistical significance, however, it does indicate a characteristic trend in this patient population who are undergoing surgery. These trends direct the providers to attend to patients’ health concerns, pre-occupation with health and physical functioning and measure of the degree of focus on their health matters.