The relationship between childhood maltreatment and problematic eating behaviors in bariatric surgery candidates.

PURPOSE: It is known that childhood maltreatment and problematic eating behaviors are higher in bariatric surgery patients compared to over- and normal-weight persons. The aim of the study is to investigate the relationship between childhood maltreatment and problematic eating behaviors such as restraint, eating concern, weight concern, shape concern, and emotional eating in bariatric surgery patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: 112 consecutive obese individuals seeking bariatric surgery at a University Hospital were administered asset of scales, including Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire-Emotional Eating subscale (DEBQ-E), and Eating Disorder Examination-Questionnaire (EDE-Q) and sociodemographic form, cross-sectionally. After descriptive statistics, a regression analysis was conducted to understand the relationships of CTQ scores with EDE-Q total, and subscale scores and DEBQ-E. RESULTS: In the Pearson correlation analysis, a statistically significant positive correlation was found between CTQ total score with EDE-Q total score and all subscales scores. In linear regression analyses, it was found that emotional abuse (ß = 0.39, p = 0.02) and physical abuse (ß = 0.36, p = 0.01) predicted increased DEBQ-E scores. In addition, sexual abuse was found to significantly predict weight concern (ß = 0.26, p = 0.04) and shape concern (ß = 0.31, p = 0.01). CONCLUSION: Our findings showed that the dynamics of problematic eating behaviors may differ depending on the type of childhood trauma. Psychiatric evaluation of bariatric surgery patients is important in understanding the relationship between childhood maltreatment and problematic eating behaviors. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level V, cross-sectional descriptive study.

Association between depression and eating behaviors among bariatric surgery candidates in a Turkish sample.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to explore further whether depression is associated with problematic eating behaviors in a sample of Turkish bariatric surgery candidates. METHODS: This descriptive study included 168 consecutively seen bariatric surgery candidates in a university bariatric surgery outpatient. Participants were asked to complete the Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire (DEBQ), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and surveys assessing sociodemographic and clinical variables. Correlations and linear regression analyses were performed to evaluate the relationship between clinical and demographic variables. RESULTS: Participants had a mean age 37.7 ± 11.3 years and BMI of 46.4 ± 6.7 kg/m2 (SD = 6.7). According to BDI scores, 75.5 % of the patients had mild, moderate, or severe depressive symptomatology. Lower levels of depressive symptoms were associated with higher levels of restrictive eating (r = -0.17; p = 0.04), whereas higher levels of depressive symptoms were associated with more frequent eating in response to both internal (r = 0.3; p = 0.002) and external (r = 0.2; p = 0.04) cues. The BDI scores were significantly associated with increased external eating (ß = 0.03, p < 0.02) and emotional eating (ß = 0.03, p < 0.002) scores. BMI (ß = -0.02, p = 0.02 > 0.1) was not associated with DEBQ total scores. CONCLUSIONS: This research suggests that mild, moderate or severe depressive symptoms are observed in most of the bariatric surgical candidate patients. There is a positive correlation between severity of depression and emotional/external eating behaviors, and a negative correlation between severity of depression and restrictive eating behavior. Additional research is needed to determine whether treating depression preoperatively can assist with alleviating problematic eating behaviors.

Night Eating Syndrome: Report of a family case.

Night eating syndrome (NES) represents a circadian delay in the pattern of eating. As there are genetic links for other eating- and circadian-based disorders, it is likely that there is a genetic basis for NES as well. We present a family case study of three identified patients and their extensive family history of NES and co-morbid mood disorders. This case report suggested that NES may have a heritable feature, particularly nocturnal ingestions. Of the seven identified cases, four had co-morbid mood disorders, and all descended from a couple with bipolar disorder and delusional disorder. More work is needed to understand the extent of genetic influence on NES, and the relationship between NES and other psychiatric disorders.