Bariatric surgery in patients with psychiatric comorbidity: Significant weight loss and improvement of physical quality of life

Abstract

Background: Patients that have psychiatric comorbidity are thought to lose less weight than the general bariatric population and are therefore sometimes denied surgery. However, there is no scientific evidence for this assumption. The aim of this study is to evaluate the weight loss and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with psychiatric disorders who undergo bariatric surgery and compare these patients with a general bariatric population. Method: Patients who underwent bariatric surgery in 2015 were included. Patients who received individual counselling and had a current DSM IV axis 1 or 2 diagnosis were included in the psychiatric group (n = 163), all other patients in the generic group (n = 2362).Weight and HRQoL were assessed before and 12-, 24-, 36- and 48-months after surgery. Data was analysed using regression analyses. Results: The maximum total weight loss (TWL) was 27.4% in the psychiatric group vs 31.0% in the generic group. Difference in %TWL between the psychiatric and generic group was significant from baseline to all follow-up moments (P