The effect of obesity management on body image in patients seeking treatment at medical centers.
OBJECTIVE
Body image dissatisfaction is common in treatment-seeking patients with obesity. We aimed to investigate the effects of obesity management on body image in patients with obesity attending Italian medical centers for weight loss programs.


METHODS
A total of 473 obese patients seeking treatment in 13 Italian medical centers (80% females; age, 45.9 +/- standard deviation 11.0 years; BMI, 36.8 +/- 5.7 kg/m(2)) were evaluated at baseline and after a 6-month weight loss treatment. Body uneasiness, psychiatric distress, and binge eating were tested by Body Uneasiness Test (BUT, Part A), Symptom CheckList-90 (SCL-90), and Binge Eating Scale (BES), respectively.


RESULTS
At 6-month follow-up, the percentage weight loss was significantly higher in men (9.0 +/- 6.3%) than in women (6.8 +/- 7.3%; p = 0.010). Both men and women had a significant improvement in BUT Global Severity Index and in all of the BUT subscales with the exception of the Compulsive Self-Monitoring subscale. Linear regression analysis selected baseline psychological and behavioral measures (global score of BUT and SCL-90) and improved psychiatric distress and binge eating as independent predictors of changes in basal body dissatisfaction in females, whereas in males, changes were associated only with baseline BUT-Global Severity Index score, binge eating, and its treatment-associated improvement. Pre-treatment BMI and BMI changes did not enter the regression.


CONCLUSIONS
Obesity treatment, even with a modest degree of weight loss, is associated with a significant improvement of body image, in both females and males. This effect depends mainly on psychological factors, not on the amount of weight loss.
Dalle Grave
Riccardo
R
Unit of Metabolic Diseases, "Alma Mater" University of Bologna, Policlinico S. Orsola, Via Massarenti, 9, I-40138 Bologna, Italy.
Cuzzolaro
Massimo
M
Calugi
Simona
S
Tomasi
Franco
F
Temperilli
Flavia
F
Marchesini
Giulio
G
D000328:Adult; D001828:Body Image; D015992:Body Mass Index; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000628:therapy*; D010465:Perception; D012107:Research Design; D012737:Sex Factors; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D015431:Weight Loss