The Relationship Between Psychiatric Problems and Eating Disorder Symptoms in Candidates for Bariatric Surgery

Obesity and overweight are global problems. They increase patient’s morbidity and mortality and may cause severe medical conditions affecting physical, mental, and or social health. Bariatric surgery is a durable solution for treating morbid obesity. This study aimed to determine the associations between psychiatric problems and eating disorder symptoms in candidates for bariatric surgery.

In this cross-sectional study, 140 participants were selected from the patients who had already been referred to the obesity clinic in Firoozgar Hospital in Tehran, Iran, for bariatric surgery from April to June 2017. To collect study data, we used the eating disorder questionnaire for assessing eating disorders and the symptom checklist questionnaire for evaluating psychiatric problems.

The results of the Chi-squared test showed a significant association (P<0.05) between eating disorder symptoms and psychiatric problems (phobia, anxiety, depression, obsessive-compulsive, psychoticism, hostility, paranoid ideation, and somatization). However, there was no significant correlation (P>0.05) between eating disorder symptoms and interpersonal sensitivity. 

This study showed that eating disorders were significantly correlated with psychiatric problems.