A preliminary study on the psychosocial impact of COVID-19 lockdown in post-bariatric surgery women: the importance of eating behavior, health care access, and social support

This study aims to characterize the psychosocial impact of COVID-19 lockdown for post-bariatric surgery (>= 36 months) women and its association with disordered eating and psychological distress. The medium to longtime follow up is a period of increased susceptibility for poorer weight outcomes which might be triggered by the lockdown. Twenty-four participants responded to an online questionnaire and a telephone interview. About half (n = 14; 58.3%) reported perceived weight gain during the lockdown, 13 (54.1%) limited access to social support, and 12 (50%) limited access to medical care. Co-habiting with a higher number of persons during lockdown was associated with fewer difficulties in dealing with emotionally activating situations, less fear of gaining weight, less fear of losing control over eating, and less disordered eating. The global perceived psychosocial impact of lockdown was significantly correlated with difficulties in dealing with emotionally activating situations and stress symptoms. Results highlight the need to monitor post-bariatric patients, facilitate health care access, and promote social support during the lockdown period.
This study was conducted at the Psychology Research Centre (CIPsi/UM) School of Psychology, University of Minho, supported by the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) through the Portuguese State Budget (UIDB/01662/2020), by grants to Eva Conceicao (IF/01219/2014 and POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028209), and Marta de Lourdes (SFRH/BD/146470/2019). Dr. Machado was supported, in part, by a Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology grant (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-028145). The funding body had no role in the design, collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; the writing of the manuscript; or the decision to submit the manuscript for publication.