COLUMBUS – A significant other can be a help or a hindrance to someone who has undergone weight-loss surgery while that surgery could also weaken the relationship, according to some new research from Ohio State.
Ideally, spouses could play a key role in helping patients lose pounds and keep them off after weight-loss surgery but being married might actually work against the patients, concluded the researchers led by Megan Ferriby, a graduate student in human sciences.
For the review, which appeared in the journal Obesity Surgery, Ferriby’s team reviewed 13 studies on weight-loss surgery published between 1990 and 2014 and found that, in some cases, married patients lost less weight than their single peers and they also discovered evidence that a married couple’s relationship could deteriorate post-surgery.
They concluded that the impact of weight-loss surgery extends to the patient’s romantic relationships and likely to their entire family.
“Food is so central to family routines and celebrations and when you undergo a surgery that so vastly impacts your ability to eat as you did before, family members take notice,” Ferriby said.
Shifting behaviors and routines in a family can be unsettling, whether to spouses, partners or children, said Keeley Pratt, Ferriby’s adviser and assistant professor of human sciences.
Of six studies that addressed marriage and weight loss, four showed that the patients who were married lost less weight. Married gastric-bypass patients were 2.6 times more likely to have not reached their goal weight a year after surgery while unmarried patients were 2.7 times more likely to stick with diet and exercise goals, Ferriby’s research determined.
Data on relationship quality in 10 studies showed that some patients’ marriages appeared to deteriorate after surgery. One study found husbands grew more dissatisfied after wives’ surgery, especially if the wife became more assertive.
Nevertheless, three of the studies that addressed sexuality found post-surgical patients were having more sex and enjoying it more.
The researchers said the results illustrate the importance of working with the patient’s family throughout the surgery process.