Psychological therapy after bariatric surgery increases weight loss and protects against weight regain, according to findings published in Obesity Surgery.

“Evaluating the weights of the patients in our sample, we can infer that in the short-, medium-, and long terms, there were significant diff erences regarding %EWL [percentage of excess weight loss], with the follow-up therapy group being the one showing the best outcomes, achieving a weight loss over 50% of initial weight in most cases,” wrote Camila García Ru and colleagues.

The study included 100 adults who underwent bariatric surgery at a hospital in Argentina. All patients were followed for at least 2 years after surgery; 87% were followed for 5 years or longer.

As part of the hospital’s standard bariatric surgery process, patients receive psychological intervention preoperatively, along with other medical and nutritional care. After surgery, care includes medical-nutritional follow-up and at least one year of psychological follow-up with the bariatric and metabolic surgery division’s mental health team.

According to the study, 79% of patients received postoperative psychological treatment.  The average length spanned 2.4 years, with ranges between 3 months and 5 years.

“It was observed that weight loss was statistically higher, and weight regain was statistically lower, in the group of patients with behavioral follow-up,” researchers reported. “This tendency was observed after 1, 2, 3, and 5 years.”

At 1 year, a loss of more than 50% of initial weight occurred in 88.6% of patients who continued therapy after surgery compared with 57.1% of patients who did not. After 3 years, over 50% weight loss occurred in 73.9% of patients with follow-up therapy compared with 52.4% without. At 5 years, the proportions were 58.8% with follow-up therapy, compared with 28.6% without.

Conversely, weight regain occurred in 9.5% of patients without follow-up therapy compared with 5.1% with therapy at 1 year, in 28.6% without therapy and 11.6% with therapy at 3 years, and in 47.6% without therapy and 24.6% with therapy at 5 years.

“According to the observations of our study, psychological follow-up after bariatric surgery helps patients reach a higher postoperative weight loss and is a protective factor against weight regain in both short- and long terms,” researchers wrote. “We conclude that the postoperative psychological approach must be kept … in patients undergoing bariatric surgery.”