Psychiatric Illness vs Weight-Loss Surgery
Medscape, 12th April 2010
Some research has been carried out to see if there is relation with overweight patients with psychiatric illnesses and weight-loss surgery. The study shows that those patients lose similar weight as the patients without mental issues.
Weight-loss depends on numerous factors. The surgery is only one of them. An important cofactor is the presence of a psychiatric diagnosis but the newest reserach shows that even individuals with depression, anxiety or any psychological disorder experienced similar levels of weight loss compared with those with no psychiatric diagnoses.
Angela Banitt, MA, a doctoral student at University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, said.“There is a feeling [among practitioners] that patients with psychiatric diagnoses will fare poorly [with bariatric surgery], but the study showed no statistically significant difference.”
61 patients took part in the study (61% men and 39% women). All patients underwent bariatric surgery between year 2003 and 2008: 41% underwent gastric bypass and 59% had laparoscopic band surgery.
Before the surgery, patients had a mean (SD) age, weight, and body mass index of 48.2 (17.3) years, 303.1 (48.7) lb, and 45.5 (5.9). Overall, participants had a mean (SD) weight loss of 68.5 (40.2) lb. Psychological examinations showed that 54% of participants had depression, 28% had anxiety, and 69% of the sample had at least 1 psychiatric diagnosis (mean ± SD = 1.3 ± 1.4). Other diagnoses included psychosis, bipolar, and Axis II disorders.
“I think it’s fantastic that people are examining the impact of psychological conditions on weight loss outcomes in these types of surgery,” said Robyn Osborn, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, Bethesda, Maryland.
