Mental Health Problems More Common Among Bariatric Surgery Patients

Bariatric surgery patients are more likely to have mental health issues, according to a recent study.

Researchers at UCLA analyzed 68 studies published between January 1988 to November 2015 that further examined the link between weight-loss surgery candidates and mental health status. They found that close to 23 percent of those who qualified for the surgery dealt with some type of mood-related disorder--the most common being depression at 19 percent. Another 17 percent also suffered from a binge eating disorder.

Bariatric surgery involves a variety of procedures that include a gastric band or gastric bypass. They are sometimes recommended for severely obese individuals--typically those who are at least 100 pounds overweight. 

The study findings further suggest that these procedures for some patients may help reduce symptoms associated with depression. "Although our results should not be interpreted as indicating that surgery is a treatment for depression, severely obese patients with depression may gain psychological benefits in addition to the physical benefits already associated with surgery," the study authors wrote, in a news release. 

While neither depression nor binge eating disorder were consistently linked to differences in weight outcomes, researchers found that bariatric surgery was, however, consistently associated with postoperative decreases in the prevalence of depression (across seven studies there was an 8 percent to 74 percent decrease) and the severity of depressive symptoms (across six studies there was a 40 percent to 70 percent decrease).

Researchers caution, however, that while the study was not designed to address causality, any depression that improved after surgery may or may not be directly related to the operation.

"Future studies would benefit from including these characteristics as well as having clear eligibility criteria, standardized instruments, regular measurement intervals, and transparency with respect to time-specific follow-up rates," the authors wrote. "By addressing these methodological issues, future work can help to identify the optimal strategy for evaluating patients' mental health prior to bariatric surgery."

The study is published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA).

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