The comparison of severity and prevalence of major depressive disorder, general anxiety disorder and eating disorders before and after bariatric surgery

Background: Severe obesity is highly co-morbid with psychiatric disorders and may have effect on the quality of life. This study aimed to compare severity and prevalence rate of depression, anxiety and eating disorders and quality of life in severe obese patients before and 6 months after the gastric bypass surgery. Methods: This was a prospective observational study which conducted at Hazarat Rasool-Akram Hospital in Tehran, 2012. Questionnaires included demographic questions, eating disorder Inventory (EDI), The Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) for quality of life, Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I disorders (SCID-I) and Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD) and anxiety (HRSA). Participants were interviewed two times, before surgery and six months after, to determine changes of the disorders. Patients with the history of bariatric surgery, individuals younger than 18 year old and those who disagreed to join the study were excluded. Results: In assessing the eating disorder inventory-3rd version (EDI-3), Significant reduction in drive for thinness (DT) (p= 0.010), bulimia (B) (p< 0.0001) and body dissatisfaction mean (BD) (0.038) was observed at the 6-month follow-up. At this period, the mean for physical component summary of SF36, significantly decreased (p< 0.0001), however mental component summary did not significantly differ (p= 0.368); Also differences in severity of anxiety (p= 0.852), and depression in HRSD (p= 0.311), prevalence of depression (p= 0.189) and prevalence of general anxiety disorder according to SCID (p=0.167) did not differ significantly, at this period. Conclusion: Although weight loss after bariatric surgery improved the physical component of quality of life, this improvement did not affect the mental aspect of life, depression and anxiety and it seems that these psychopathologies need attention and treatment in addition to weight loss treatments in patients with obesity.