Obesity, Hypersomnolence, and Quality of Sleep: the Impact of Bariatric Surgery

Obesity is commonly associated with poor sleep, excessive daytime sleepiness (EDS) and depressive mood but the impact of bariatric surgery on these conditions is incompletely understood. This study aimed to investigate the course of EDS and sleep quality in bariatric surgery patients in relation with changes in body weight and depressive symptoms. In patients consecutively submitted to bariatric surgery, baseline and postoperative sleep quality were evaluated by the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), excessive daytime sleepiness by the Epworth Sleepiness Scale (ESS), risk for OSA by the Berlin Questionnaire (BQ), and depressive symptoms by the Beck Depression Inventory-Short Form (BDI). Comorbidities were assessed by interview and chart review. Sixty patients (M/F = 9/51) with a mean (+/- SD) age of 34.7 +/- 9.2 years and body mass index (BMI) of 46.04 +/- 7.52 kg/m(2) were studied. Bariatric surgery improved PSQI score (6.4 +/- 3.8 versus 4.1 +/- 2.8; p < 0.001), ESS score (8.1 +/- 4.7 versus 6.0 +/- 3.3; p < 0.001), BDI score (9.8 +/- 7.0 versus 4.7 +/- 4.6; p = 0.001), and risk for OSA (68.3 versus 5%). Twelve of the 18 subjects with baseline EDS (ESS ae 10) developed normal ESS score after surgery. In these subjects, significant postoperative improvement in depressive symptoms score was observed (12.0 +/- 9.0 versus 5.5 +/- 5.0; p = 0.041), in contrast to the remaining six cases with persistent EDS, who showed no significant change in these symptoms (5.5 +/- 5.0 versus 3.2 +/- 3.1; p = 0.416). Bariatric surgery has a beneficial effect on sleep quality and EDS. Postoperative improvement in EDS can be related to a reduction in depressive symptoms.