Associations between psychological test results and failure to proceed with bariatric surgery.

Background: The reasons why some patients who begin the presurgical process for bariatric surgery fail to complete the procedure are understudied. Previous research implies that psychological factors play a role.

Objectives: To examine whether scores from baseline psychological testing incrementally predict failure to proceed with bariatric surgery beyond demographic information in patients' medical charts and data derived from a clinical interview.

A review of psychological assessment instruments for use in bariatric surgery evaluations.

Bariatric surgery is a viable treatment option for patients with extreme obesity and associated medical comorbidities; however, optimal surgical outcomes are not universal. Surgical societies, such as the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (ASMBS), recommend that patients undergo a presurgical psychological evaluation that includes reviewing patients' medical charts, conducting a comprehensive clinical interview, and employing some form of objective psychometric testing. Despite numerous societies recommending the inclusion of self-report assessments, only about 2/3 of clinics actively use psychological testing-some of which have limited empirical support to justify their use.

Graze eating among bariatric surgery candidates: prevalence and psychosocial correlates.

Background: Graze eating is defined as repetitive, unplanned eating of small amounts of food throughout the day. Little consensuses exist regarding whether graze eating, like binge eating disorder (BED), is characterized by feelings of loss of control (LOC). Furthermore, little is known about how patients who graze eat with and without LOC differ psychologically.

Psychological predictors of body image concerns 3 months after bariatric surgery.

Background: Although studies have associated postoperative weight loss with improvement in body image dissatisfaction, some individuals continue to report body image concerns after bariatric surgery. These concerns are linked to increased depressive symptoms and decreased self-esteem in bariatric populations.

Objective: This study sought to explore preoperative factors that may predict early body image concerns 3 months after bariatric surgery.

Using presurgical psychological testing to predict 1-year appointment adherence and weight loss in bariatric surgery patients: predictive validity and methodological considerations.

Background: Previous studies suggest that presurgical psychopathology accounts for some of the variance in suboptimal weight loss outcomes among Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) patients, but research has been equivocal.

Objectives: The present study seeks to extend the past literature by examining associations between presurgical scale scores on the broadband Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2-Restructured Form (MMPI-2-RF) and suboptimal weight loss and poor adherence to follow-up 1 year postoperatively after accounting for several methodologic considerations.

Setting: Cleveland Clinic Bariatric and Metabolic Institute, Cleveland, Ohio, USA.