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A Survey of Bariatric Surgical and Reproductive Health Professionals’ Knowledge and Provision of Contraception to Reproductive-Aged Bariatric Surgical Patients

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Abstract

Background

Over 80 % of bariatric surgical patients are women with obesity in their reproductive years. Obesity adversely affects fertility; the rapid weight loss following bariatric surgery can increase fecundity. Current guidelines recommend avoiding pregnancy for up to 24 months following surgery, but little is known about current contraceptive care of women who undergo bariatric surgery. Two surveys were undertaken with bariatric surgical and contraceptive practitioners in England to establish current contraceptive practices in both groups.

Methods

Two anonymous on-line surveys were sent to all 382 members of the British Obesity and Metabolic Surgery Society (BOMSS) and an estimated 300 contraceptive practitioners in the North East of England.

Results

The BOMSS survey elicited a response rate of 17 % (n = 65), mainly from bariatric surgeons (n = 24 (36 %)). Most respondents (97 %) acknowledged the need to educate patients, but contraceptive information was only provided by 7 % (n = 4) of respondents in bariatric surgical clinics. Less than half of respondents were confident discussing contraception, and the majority requested further training, guidance and communication with contraceptive practitioners. The majority of respondents to the contraceptive practitioner survey were general practitioners (28 %, n = 20). Three quarters of respondents reported little knowledge of bariatric surgery, and many reported not seeing women with obesity requiring contraception before (66 %, n = 45) or after surgery (71 %, n = 49).

Conclusions

There is a need to increase knowledge levels of contraception within bariatric surgical teams and to understand why, despite increasing levels of bariatric surgery, women do not seem to be appearing for advice in contraceptive settings.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pharmacy, Health and Well-being, University of Sunderland, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, UK

    Yitka N. H. Graham, Kim Hinshaw, Ken McGarry & Scott Wilkes

  2. Department of General Surgery, Sunderland Royal Hospital, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, UK

    Yitka N. H. Graham, Peter K. Small & Kamal K. Mahawar

  3. Department of Sexual Health, New Croft Centre, Newcastle upon Tyne NHS Hospitals Foundation Trust, Newcastle Upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, UK

    Diana Mansour

  4. Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Sunderland Royal Hospital, Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, UK

    Kim Hinshaw & Sarah Gatiss

Authors
  1. Yitka N. H. Graham
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  2. Diana Mansour
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  3. Peter K. Small
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  4. Kim Hinshaw
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  5. Sarah Gatiss
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  6. Kamal K. Mahawar
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  7. Ken McGarry
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  8. Scott Wilkes
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Yitka N. H. Graham.

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Conflict of Interest

Kamal Mahawar is on the editorial board of Obesity Surgery. All other authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Ethical Approval

For this type of study, implied consent was given; therefore, ethical approval was not required by the University of Sunderland or City Hospitals Sunderland NHS Foundation Trust.

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Graham, Y.N.H., Mansour, D., Small, P.K. et al. A Survey of Bariatric Surgical and Reproductive Health Professionals’ Knowledge and Provision of Contraception to Reproductive-Aged Bariatric Surgical Patients. OBES SURG 26, 1918–1923 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11695-015-2037-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11695-015-2037-4

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