Background

Frequent in-person follow-up has been viewed as integral to success after bariatric surgery. The purpose of this study is to assess the impact of telemedicine on postoperative weight-loss and determine if providing patients with bioimpedance scales and activity trackers improve weight-loss.

Methods

This is a randomized control study of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy patients. The Intervention group received a digital scale and activity tracker to monitor weight, changes in body composition, and activity. The Control group received the same standard-of-care treatment, but no devices. Actual weight-loss and weight-loss predicted using the MBSAQIP Risk/Benefit Calculator was compared between the two groups.

Results

70 patients (38 intervention, 32 control) have been enrolled to date. 3 months after surgery, patients in the intervention group lost 15.2±1.0 kg compared to only 9.3±1.2 kg in the control group (p<0.01; 1A). Patients in the intervention group tend to outperform predicted percent weight loss (Intervention: 1.8±1.0% greater than predicted; Control: 2.5±1.2% less than predicted, p<0.05, 1B). At 3 months, patients have a significant decrease in fat mass (57.3±1.8% versus 47.4±2.3%, p<0.01) and a significant increase in muscle mass % (24.9±1.0% versus 30.6±1.3%, p<0.01; 2A). The change in fat mass % is greater than the change in muscle mass % (9.8±1.1% versus 5.7±0.6%, p<0.01; 2B).

Conclusions

Early results demonstrate that remotely monitoring weight-loss and activity in bariatric surgery patients improves weight loss postoperatively. Fat loss exceeds muscle gain in the first postoperative month and patients in the Intervention group have superior weight-loss compared to national benchmarks.