Personality traits and preoperative lifestyle improvement are predictors of early weight loss after sleeve gastrectomy

Purpose This study investigated the associations of personality traits and preoperative lifestyle improvements with early weight loss after sleeve gastrectomy. Methods This was a single-center, retrospective study of 57 patients who underwent preoperative lifestyle intervention with a multidisciplinary team approach based on cognitive behavioral therapy before sleeve gastrectomy. All patients underwent preoperative psychological testing with the Neuroticism-Extraversion-Openness Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI) and the Tokyo University Egogram New Version II (TEG II). We investigated the associations of psychological testing results and lifestyle improvements with percent total weight loss (%TWL) one year after surgery. Results The median %TWL at 1 year was 38.2% for patients with an improved lifestyle and 26.9% for those without improvement ( P = 0.0008). Although TEG II factors were not associated with %TWL at 1 year, higher NEO-FFI extraversion (E) scores were significantly associated with a better %TWL at 1 year. The median %TWL at 1 year was 35.2% for patients with higher E scores and 25.4% for those with lower E scores ( P = 0.0247). Lifestyle improvement and the NEO-FFI E score significantly influenced %TWL at 1 year based on a logistic regression analysis. Conclusion The NEO-FFI E score and preoperative lifestyle improvement may be predictors of early weight loss after sleeve gastrectomy.