Childhood Maltreatment in Patients Undergoing Bariatric Surgery: Implications for Weight Loss, Depression and Eating Behavior

We aimed to explore the relationships between childhood maltreatment and changes in weight, depressive symptoms and eating behavior post-bariatric surgery (BS). Participants (n = 111, 85% females) were evaluated pre-surgery, and at 6 months (6 M) and 12 months (12 M) post-BS. History of maltreatment was assessed at baseline (Childhood Trauma Questionnaire), and depressive symptoms (Beck Depression Inventory-II) and eating behavior (Dutch Eating Behavior Questionnaire) were assessed at all time points. Participants’ mean age and median BMI were 45.1 ± 11.7 years and 46.7 (IQR 42.4–51.9) kg/m², respectively. Histories of emotional (EA), physical (PA) and sexual abuse (SA) and emotional (EN) and physical (PN) neglect were reported by 47.7%, 25.2%, 39.6%, 51.4% and 40.5%, respectively, with 78.4% reporting at least one form of maltreatment. Changes in weight and depressive symptoms were not different between patients with vs. without a history of maltreatment. However, those with vs. without SA demonstrated limited changes in emotional eating (EE) at 12 M, while those without showed improvements. Conversely, patients with vs. without EN showed greater improvements in external eating (ExE) at 6 M, but differences were no longer observed by 12 M. Results indicate that histories of SA and EN are associated with changes in eating behaviors post-BS and have implications for assessment, monitoring and potential intervention development.