Differences in the cluster of depressive symptomatology among bariatric surgery candidates, long-term bariatric surgery patients, and subjects with a major depressive disorder without obesity

Abstract Introduction: depression is more frequent among people with obesity (PwO) compared to the general population. Depression seems to improve after bariatric surgery (BS) at short term, but data are inconclusive at long term. Besides, it is not known whether depressive symptoms among PwO are similar to those people with a major depression without obesity. Objectives: we aimed to study whether there are differences regarding depressive symptomatology among subjects seeking BS or patients after BS in the long-term compared with subjects with MDD. Methods: the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) was administered to three groups: 52 patients seeking BS (OB), 135 patients with a BS with a minimum follow-up of 18 months (BS) and 45 subjects with a MDD (MDD). Results: the MDD obtained the higher score with the BDI whether compared to the OB (18.9 ± 12.7 vs 14.2 ± 6.9; p = 0.01) or the BS (18.9 ± 12.7 vs 8.1 ± 8; p < 0.0001). Also, BS presented a lower BDI than the OB (8.1 ± 8 vs 14.2 ± 6.9; p < 0.0001). The MDD scored higher in the psychological domain than patients in the OB (9.9 ± 7.5 vs 5.7 ± 5.1; p < 0.0001) as well as in the BS (9.9 ± 7.5 vs 3.1 ± 3; p < 0.0001). There was a negative correlation between a greater score in the somatic domain and %EPP (p = 0.04). Conclusions: at long term, depressive symptomatology among subjects with a BS remained lower compared to PwO seeking BS.PwO presented a different cluster of depression compared to individuals with a MDD. BS reduces the somatic depressive cluster at long term, although its presence is associated to a lesser weight loss.