Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: In Brazil, most patients referred to bariatric surgery are women. The literature indicates the occurrence of gender differences in body composition and body image perception.

Aim: To study body image perception and its relationship with body composition in Brazilian bariatric patients.

Methods: A total of 140 patients were evaluated using the Stunkard Figure Rating Scale (SFRS) and bioimpedance. Image dissatisfaction and distortion, body mass index (BMI), BMI excess (calculated as: [BMI – 25]), body fat percentage, muscle mass, and visceral fat were studied. Data from women and men were compared.

Results: 114 women and 26 men were investigated. Seventy–six were studied before and 64 after bariatric surgery. There was no gender difference regarding age (41.73 ± 11.52 vs 39.38 ± 9.24 years, P = 0.3499), prevalence of bariatric surgery prior to study inclusion (47.37% vs 38.46%, P = 0.5141), time elapsed since surgery (27 ± 32 vs 16 ± 42 months, P = 0.4649), BMI (37.78 ± 8.6 vs 41.51 ± 10.35 kg/m², P = 0.0573) or visceral fat index (19.2 ± 5.65 vs 18.8 ± 6.27, P = 0.7784). However, women had higher body fat percentage (46.48 ± 7.25 vs 41.45 ± 10.01%, P = 0.0053) and men had higher BMI excess (18.10 ± 10.97 vs 13.10 ± 9.16 kg/m², P = 0.0170) and muscle mass (40.88 ± 5.58 vs 27.76 ± 4.65 kg, P = 0.0001). Based on SFRS, all subjects had image dissatisfaction (scores: women ± 3.7 ± 1.6, men ± 3.2 ± 1.3, P = 0.1648), and women had higher scores of image distortion (0.99 ± 0.86 vs 0.62 ± 0.70, P = 0.0391). The multiple regression model for the determinants of the dissatisfaction indicated BMI excess as the main influence (r² = 0.8584, P = 0.0346), while the model for distortion suggested the impact of muscle mass (r² = 0.3322, P = 0.0032).

Conclusion: Gender differences in body composition are in accordance with the literature. Most subjects in this study were women, the subgroup with the higher prevalence of image distortion, which may have contributed to their higher prevalence of obesity and, consequently, referral to surgical treatment. Present in all subjects, image dissatisfaction could have been a trigger for the search of medical treatment.