Objective: Attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is a psychiatric disorder that begins in childhood and shows effects in adulthood. ADHD symptoms in adulthood usually consist in inattentiveness, depression, impulsivity, sensitivity to stress, anxiety, and behavior problems. It has been reported that the prevalence of ADHD is 4.4%. In morbidly obese patients in adulthood, general psychopathological and ADHD symptoms occur at a higher rate than in non-obese patients. These symptoms are important risk factors for the postoperative amount of weight loss and continuity in patients applying for bariatric surgery. The aim of this study is to analyze the relationship between childhood ADHD and general psychopathological features and eating attitudes in the morbidly obese patients (BMI:40>m2) who apply for bariatric surgery.
Methods: The population of this study is selected from patients who applied for bariatric surgery at Bursa Sevket Yılmaz Training and Research Hospital between January and November 2014, and 89 of them were suitable for surgery and were included in this research. Adult ADHD Self-Report Scales (ASRS-v1.1), Wender–Utah Rating Scale-25 (WURS-25), The Eating Attitudes Test-40 and the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90) were applied to them.
Results: Eighty-nine patients in the study include 69 female and 20 male individuals. Average age of this population is 34.84±9.93, average education years 9.4±3.5 and average BMI is 46.42± 5.34. According to WURS-25 test, 13 patients (14.60%) are diagnosed with childhood ADHD with a score of 36 points or more. In childhood ADHD patients, all scores except somatization and anxiety subscales showed a statistically significant elevation (p<0.05). No significant relation was found between the patients with ADHD and the control group in terms of eating attitude. Despite this, compared to the cut-off point of the scale, disordered eating attitudes were detected in 8 of 13 childhood ADHD patients (61.53%). The rate of eating disorder was 25% (19 of 76 patients) in the control group. In the results of the analysis of correlation between ASRS, WURS-25, The Eating Attitudes Test-40 and SCL-90, positively significant correlations were found between ASRS, WURS-25 and all subscales of SCL-90, but there was not significant correlation in terms of eating attitude.
Conclusion: The rate of childhood ADHD in patients admitted to bariatric surgery (14.6%) was found higher than the prevalence in the general population (4%). In patients with childhood ADHD, general psychopathological symptoms and eating disorders demonstrate high correlations. These symptoms are important risk factors for the postoperative amount of weight loss and continuity. To focus on the general psychopathological features and ADHD may be helpful in the monitoring and treatment of these patients.