Post-surgical psychiatric symptoms, maladaptive eating patterns, and lifestyle behaviors associated with weight recurrence after bariatric surgery.

Background: A significant proportion of patients who undergo bariatric surgery experience weight recurrence; however, the most important areas to target to prevent weight recurrence remain unknown.

Objectives: The purpose was to examine whether psychiatric symptoms, maladaptive eating behaviors, and lifestyle factors were associated with weight recurrence.

Setting: Single healthcare system.

Methods: Individuals who underwent bariatric surgery were invited to complete a web-based survey in which they reported their current weight and completed measures of psychiatric symptoms, maladaptive eating behaviors, and lifestyle behaviors. Participants were included if they were at least 2 years postsurgery. Weight recurrence was measured from the 1-year follow-up to the survey date.

Results: Participants (n = 169) were predominantly female and White or Black, with a mean age of 45 years. The rate of significant weight recurrence was 23.1%. Those who underwent sleeve gastrectomy were more likely to experience weight recurrence (odds ratio [OR] = 12.99; P = .01). In bivariate analyses, anxiety and depressive symptoms, emotional eating, loss of control eating, binge eating, and night eating were associated with weight recurrence (P < .05). Those who did not eat mindfully, take 20 minutes to eat, or get adequate sleep were also more likely to have weight recurrence (P < .05). In a multivariate model, only a lack of mindful eating (OR = 4.84; P = .03) and inadequate sleep (OR = 7.30; P = .02) remained statistically significant predictors.

Conclusion: Engaging in mindful eating and obtaining adequate sleep may protect against weight recurrence following bariatric surgery. Clinicians may want to screen and monitor these behaviors.