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 (β = 0.39, p = 0.02) and physical abuse (β = 0.36, p = 0.01) predicted increased DEBQ-E scores. In addition, sexual abuse was found to significantly predict weight concern (β = 0.26, p = 0.04) and shape concern (β = 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.