Psychological correlates of laparoscopic adjustable gastric band and gastric bypass patients.

Background: To compare psychological characteristics of patients seeking laparoscopic adjustable gastric band (LAGB) and gastric bypass surgery.

Methods: In the present study, 898 women were assessed as part of a comprehensive presurgical evaluation. Of these 898 patients, 107 (12%) were seeking LAGB surgery and 791 (88%) were seeking gastric bypass surgery. Their scores on a battery of psychological tests were compared with T-tests with Bonferroni correction.

Results: Those patients seeking gastric bypass had greater body mass indices than those seeking LAGB. However, the analyses found no statistically significant differences on measures of IQ, depression, anxiety, anger, self-assessed reasons for weight gain, and psychopathology and personality as indicated by Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory-2 scale scores.

Conclusions: The psychological evaluation can be helpful in identifying behavioral and emotional issues that merit adjunct psychological attention to optimize long-term surgical outcome. These results suggest that, as a group, no differential treatment planning needs to take place for psychological issues based on surgery performed.