Affordable Activity Monitors Can Improve Post-Surgical Care in Bariatric Surgery Patients

Abstract

Bariatric surgery is an effective method of dramatically reducing weight and minimizing the appearance of co-morbidities in several obese individuals. Regardless of weight lost post-surgically, some patients fail to increase their amount of physical activity and remain overly sedentary. Furthermore, in the years following surgery, certain patients regain some of the weight that they had initially lost. A proposed explanation for this lack of long-term weight loss maintenance is the lack of attendance to long-term post-surgical follow-up visits. If health care providers are unable to monitor the progress of their patients post-surgically, it is impossible for them to provide new strategies that will promote better long-term weight loss success. Recently, new and more affordable activity monitoring devices have become accessible with the ability to log information about physical activity and nutrition wirelessly to web based software. This software enables the information to be accessed by anyone with internet access and the correct password. These devices give the opportunity for patients to communicate with their health care providers without the need for in person follow-up visits and offer an affordable option for better and more reliable long-term follow-up care after bariatric surgery.