Background: After bariatric surgery, the postoperative quality of weight loss is variable. The aim of weight loss treatment is to reduce fat mass while keeping fat free mass, in particular body cell mass (BCM), constant. Detection of low BCM is an important aspect of surgical follow up. Handgrip dynamometry is a rapid and inexpensive test to measure static muscle strength, which is an independent outcome indicator of various medical conditions. The objective of this study is to examine the change in handgrip strength after bariatric surgery and its predictive value for postoperative body composition. Furthermore, this study was carried out at the University Hospital, Germany.
Methods: Twenty-five patients who underwent a bariatric procedure (laparoskopic Roux-Y gastric bypass n=16 or sleeve resection n=9) were included in this study. Bioelectrical impedance analysis and hand-grip strength were measured preoperatively and repeated every 6 weeks for 4 months. An analysis of variance was performed to observe the changes in these individual parameters.
Results: Postoperatively, all patients showed a significant decrease in the body mass index and body fat. The extracellular mass, BCM, and the lean mass of the patients remained constant. Handgrip strength showed no significant changes during the postoperative course. Nevertheless, the preoperative hand-grip strength showed a strong positive correlation with the postoperative body composition.
Conclusions: This study showed no changes in the static muscle force after bariatric surgery. The preoperative handgrip strength was strongly correlated with postoperative body composition and may be used to identify patients who need more attention before surgery and in the early postoperative phase.