A Preliminary Study of the Relationship Between Preoperative Depression and Weight Loss Following Surgery for Morbid Obesity

Fifty-two consecutive morbidly obese patients were evaluated psychiatrically before they were scheduled to undergo gastroplasty and again an average of twenty-six months later. Ten patients did not undergo surgery; six patients who did undergo gastroplasty were unavailable for follow up. In the remaining thirty-six patients, there was a statistically significant correlation between the degree of clinically estimated preoperative depression and the percent of body weight lost following surgery. Amount of preoperative weight was also correlated with postoperative weight loss, but depression before surgery was a more significant predictor of postoperative weight loss. Patients who expressed less distress prior to surgery tended to lose less weight after surgery and were more likely to manifest increased psychiatric distress postoperatively.