Relationships Between a History of Abuse, Changes in Body Mass Index, Physical Health, and Self-Reported Depression in Female Bariatric Surgery Patients.

Background/Objectives: A history of physical and sexual abuse has been implicated in weight gain. Although bariatric surgery is effective for weight loss in severely obese individuals, we investigated whether bariatric surgery patients who self-report a history of physical and/or sexual abuse have differential outcomes regarding weight loss, body mass index (BMI), quality of life (SF-36), and depressive symptoms (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression [CESD]) compared with nonabused patients. Materials and Methods: Standardized assessments at baseline and follow-up visits were performed on 103 obese (BMI >35) female bariatric surgery patients (mean age: 44.11 years, standard deviation: 11.67 years). Results: In total 49.5% of participants reported abuse. Abused group had significantly higher BMI ( p  < 0.01) and depression scores ( p  < 0.01). After surgery, the BMI between the two groups was no longer significantly different, although the abused group remained significantly more depressed. Mixed models showed that abuse was associated with CESD scores ( p  < 0.01) and SF-36 mental composite scores ( p  = 0.03) after adjusting for smoking history. Conclusion: Bariatric surgery leads to a better weight loss in abused patients. Abuse history might be an additional factor for clinicians to consider when advising bariatric surgery, as our study suggests that women with history of abuse may have a higher weight loss benefit but less mental health improvement from the intervention.