Longitudinal trends in food cravings following Roux-en-Y gastric bypass in an adolescent sample

This is the author's accepted manuscript. Made available by the permission of the publisher.Background Food cravings are more prevalent and potentially problematic for many individuals with obesity. Initial evidence suggests that bariatric surgery has some short-term beneficial effects on cravings in adults, but little is known about the effect on adolescents or the trajectory beyond 6 months. Methods The purpose of the present study was to determine the longitudinal effect of Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) on food cravings in a sample of adolescents with severe obesity (body mass index (BMI) ≥40 kg/m2). Sixteen adolescents were recruited and underwent RYGB. Participants completed the Food Craving Inventory before RYGB, and 3, 6, 12, 18, and 24 months postoperatively. The present study took place in a single pediatric tertiary care hospital. Results RYGB produced a negative (cravings decreased as time increased) nonlinear trend for total food cravings as well as for each individual subscale (sweets, high fat foods, carbohydrates, fast food) over the 24-month study period. This means that while cravings decrease postsurgically, there is a decline in the slope with the line reaching asymptote at approximately 18 months. BMI change was not a significant predictor of food cravings, but low statistical power may account for this lack of significance. Conclusion These findings provide preliminary evidence that RYGB decreases food cravings in adolescents

Health-related quality of life and parental stress in children with fecal incontinence: A normative comparison

Copyright © ESPGHAL and NASPGHAN. All rights reserved. Objective: The aim of the present study was to describe the quality of life and parenting stress associated with a child with fecal incontinence (FI). Methods: Female caregivers (n=170) of children of 3 to 12 years age with FI completed a broad and general measure of quality of life and a measure of parenting stress. Results were compared with proxy reports for a normative sample of healthy children. Results: Caregivers of children with FI reported significantly impaired quality of life for their children and increased parenting stress in all of the respective domains relative to healthy controls. Impairments reported by caregivers were large in magnitude. Similarly, rates of parenting stress were at or greater than the 98th percentile for caregivers of children with FI. Conclusions: Children with fecal incontinence and their families are in need of interventions targeting their quality of life and the stress associated with caregiving. FI appears to be particularly stressful for caregivers who may be in need of support beyond medical management of their child\u27s bowel. Moreover, additional refinements in disease-specific quality of life assessment are needed in this population. Such refinement would allow for more precise measurement of the quality of life processes that are unique to FI