Depression score predicts weight loss following Roux-en-Y gastric bypass.
BACKGROUND
The prevalence of obesity is increasing in the United States. Bariatric surgery is the only intervention that can reliably induce and maintain significant weight loss in obese patients. The association between pre-surgical severity of depression and success at weight loss following Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGBP) has not yet been fully elucidated.


METHODS
145 charts of patients who underwent RYGBP for morbid obesity were reviewed. 47 patients who filled out the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) before surgery and completed 1 year of follow-up were studied. The relationship between pre-surgical severity of depression and success at weight loss was examined through multivariate regression analysis using percent excess weight loss (%EWL) as a dependent variable and BDI score as one of the predictors.


RESULTS
Weight loss at 1 year was significantly related to the BDI score before surgery (P =0.014). BDI score was also found to be a significant predictor of the amount of weight lost (kg) 1 year after surgery (P =0.027). Age (P =0.03) and initial body mass index (BMI) (P =0.011) were the only other variables with significant independent relations to %EWL.


CONCLUSIONS
Our data show a positive correlation between pre-surgical severity of depression as measured by BDI score and the 1-year success at weight loss after RYGBP as measured by %EWL. More depressed individuals tend to lose greater amounts of weight compared with less depressed individuals. Future prospective studies should examine possible mechanisms and effects of depression and other psychiatric disturbances on long-term weight loss after RYGBP.
Averbukh
Yelena
Y
Department of Medicine, St.Luke's-Roosevelt Hospital, New York, USA.
Heshka
Stanley
S
El-Shoreya
Hazem
H
Flancbaum
Louis
L
Geliebter
Allan
A
Kamel
Sherif
S
Pi-Sunyer
F Xavier
FX
Laferrère
Blandine
B
D000328:Adult; D000713:Anastomosis, Roux-en-Y; D015897:Comorbidity; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D015390:Gastric Bypass / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009767:Obesity, Morbid / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000601:surgery*; D011581:Psychological Tests; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D015431:Weight Loss / Q000502:physiology*