Psychological correlates to dysfunctional eating patterns among morbidly obese patients accepted for bariatric surgery

Abstract

Objective: To examine the relationships between dysfunctional eating patterns, personality, anxiety and depression in morbidly obese patients accepted for bariatric surgery. Design: The study used cross-sectional data collected in running a randomized controlled trial (http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01403558). Subjects: A total of 102 patients (69 women, 33 men) with a mean (SD) age of 42.6 (9.8) years and a mean BMI 43.5 (4.4) kg/m2 participated. Measurements: Measurements included the NEO PI-R (personality: neuroticism, extroversion, openness, conscientiousness and agreeableness), the TFEQ R-21 (dysfunctional eating: emotional eating (EE), uncontrolled eating (UE) and cognitive restraint of eating (CR) and the HADS (anxiety and depression). Results: The personality traits neuroticism and conscientiousness were more strongly correlated with dysfunctional eating compared with anxiety and depression. These differences were most pronounced for emotional and cognitive restraint of eating. Emotional eating occurred more often in female than male patients, a finding that was partially mediated by neuroticism but not by anxiety and depression. Conclusion: Personality traits may be important to address in the clinical management of morbidly obese patients seeking bariatric surgery as neuroticism is particularly salient in female patients displaying an emotional eating behaviour.