Introduccion: la obesidad es una causa importante de morbimortalidad, considerada un problema de salud publica. La cirugia bariatrica es actualmente una de las estrategias utilizadas para reducir la obesidad, no obstante existen pocos datos sobre su impacto en la calidad de vida relacionada con la salud (CVRS). El objetivo fue comparar la calidad de vida de obesos programados para cirugia bariatrica con pacientes previamente intervenidos. Metodologia: estudio comparativo transversal, en personas con obesidad que fueron reunidos asi: [Grupo 1] Pacientes obesos con indicacion medica para cirugia bariatrica y en proceso de programacion operatoria. [Grupo 2] Pacientes con cirugia bariatrica de reciente intervencion, no mayor a seis meses. [Grupo 3] Pacientes con cirugia bariatrica realizada entre seis meses y un ano. [Grupo 4] Pacientes con mas de un ano de intervencion de cirugia bariatrica. Los datos de contacto tomados de las historias clinicas de dos centros hospitalarios de Cartagena, Colombia. Fueron contactados, invitados a participar y se les aplicaron las escalas de calidad de vida, SF-36 y B.A.R.O.S. Los datos fueron analizados por medio del programa estadistico EPI-INFO version 3.5.1 Resultados: en el estudio se incluyeron 94 personas de las cuales 66 (70.2%) eran mujeres y 28 (29.8%) hombres. Estaban distribuidos asi: Grupo 1: 22; Grupo 2: 24; Grupo 3: 20 y Grupo 4: 28 personas. La cirugia que mas se realizaron fueron: sleeve gastrico (59.7%) y bypass gastrico 40.3%. El promedio del indice de masa corporal en el grupo 1, programados a cirugia, fue 40.5 y el promedio de los intervenidos fue 29.9. La puntuacion total y los dominios de la escala SF-36 se aumento significativamente entre mayor tiempo existia desde la realizacion de la cirugia, o sea tenian mejor calidad de vida. Tambien con la escala B.A.R.O.S. se observo mejoria en todos sus dominios, excepto sexual, en los grupos de personas intervenidos frente a los que estaban pendientes de la cirugia. Conclusiones: los pacientes obesos programados a cirugia bariatrica tuvieron peor calidad de vida que los ya intervenidos. Rev.cienc.biomed. 2014;5(1):79-87 PALABRAS CLAVE Obesidad; Cirugia bariatrica; Calidad de vida. SUMMARY Introduction: Obesity is an important cause of morbi-morbidity and it is considered a public health problem. Currently, the bariatric surgery is one of the used strategies to reduce the obesity, nevertheless, there are little information about its impact on the quality of life related with the health (QLRH). The aim was to compare the quality of life of obese patients scheduled for bariatric surgery with previously intervened patients. Methods: Cross-sectional study carried out in obese people who were organized in this way: [Group 1] obese patients with medical indication for bariatric surgery and in process of operative programming. [Group 2] patients with bariatric surgery of recent intervention, not higher than six months. [Group 3] patients with bariatric surgery carried out between six and twelve months. [Group 4] patients with more than one year of the intervention of bariatric surgery. The information of contact were taken of the medical records of two hospitable centers in Cartagena, Colombia. The patients were contacted and invited to participate. The scales of quality of life, SF-36 and B.A.R.O.S. were applied. Data was analyzed by means of the statistical program EPI-INFO version 3.5.1 Results: 94 patients were included in the study, of which 66 (70.2%) were women and 28 (29.8%) were men. They were distributed in this way: Group 1: 22; Group 2: 24; Group 3: 20 and Group 4: 28 people. The most frequent surgeries were: Gastric sleeve resection (59.7%) and gastric bypass (40.3%). The average of the body mass index in the group 1, programmed for surgery, was 40.5 and the average in the intervened patients was 29.9. The total score and the domains of the SF-36 scale increased significantly with the rise of time since the surgery, what means that they had better quality of life. In addition, with the B.A.R.O.S. scale, an improvement in all the domains was observed, with the exception of the sexual domain in the groups of intervened patients in front of those who were waiting for the surgery. Conclusions: The obese patients programmed for bariatric surgery had worse quality of life than those already intervened. Rev.cienc.biomed. 2014;5(1):79-87 KEYWORDS Obesity; Bariatric Surgery; Quality of Life,