Changes in the life habits of patients on postoperative bariatric surgery

Objective: To evaluate changes in the life habits of patients undergoing bariatric surgery. Methods: A descriptive and cross - sectional study was conducted from November 2014 to June 2015 in a hospital reference for bariatric surgery in the State of Ceara, Brazil. The sample consisted of 92 late postoperative patients and the data collection was done with a structured instrument. The project was approved by the Research Ethics Committee of the institution (CEP538/2011). Results: The differences between the adoption of healthy behaviors in the pre- and postoperative periods were verified using the Chi-square test and Fischer's exact test. There was a decrease in the practice of smoking (p = 0,001) and alcoholism (p = 0,002). The results show an increase in physical activity from 31.5% (29) to 64.1% (59) after surgery (p = 0,018) and the choice for balanced and nutritious meals increased from 28.2% (16) to 65.2% (60) (p <0,001). Conclusion: An improvement in the life habits of patients after bariatric surgery was evidenced.