Variation of Binge Eating One Year after Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass and Its Relationship with Excess Weight Loss

BACKGROUND: Bariatric surgery is the most effective treatment for obesity classes II and III. However, some patients do not get the desired results or initially lose and then regain the lost weight. Identifying these individuals early on and treating them adequately remains a challenge. As binge eating directly affects food intake, the study of this symptom and its relation to bariatric surgery and its results is increasing, because it appears to have an influence on the results of surgery. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to see how binge eating changes, measured with the Binge Eating Scale, interferes in the % excess weight loss one year after Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study with 149 patients older than 18 years who were evaluated one year after undergoing Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. The variation in the intensity of binge eating was measured with the pre- and postoperative Binge Eating Scale scores. RESULTS: The variation of one unit in the Binge Eating Scale implied an inverse variation of 0.41% of % excess weight loss (p<0.05). The correlation coefficient between the variation of binge eating and the % excess weight loss was -0.186 (p = 0.033). The correlation coefficient between the binge eating symptoms one year after surgery and the % excess weight loss was -0.353 (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: There was a correlation between the variation of binge eating one year after gastric bypass and the % excess weight loss. The correlation between binge eating and the % excess weight loss was greater after the surgery than it was at the preoperative stage. This study provides new, valuable information on the intensity and variation of binge eating symptoms one year after gastric bypass, which, to the best of our knowledge, have not been studied in depth earlier.