Exploring health-related quality of life in eating disorders by a cross-sectional study and a comprehensive review

Abstract

BackgroundPeople with eating disorders (ED) often report poor health-related quality of life (HRQoL), which is explicitly correlated to illness’ severity and its effects on cognitive performance. We aimed to analyze health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in subgroups of eating disorder (ED) patients by using the brief version of WHOQoL questionnaire (WHOQoL-BREF) before treatment administration. Moreover, in order to compare our findings with other published data, we carried out a comprehensive review of the literature on HRQoL in ED patients.MethodsOur review was carried out by means of an accurate data mining of PsychInfo and Medline databases and other available sources. In our cross-sectional study, eighty female ED patients (26 with bulimia nervosa, 33 with anorexia nervosa, 7 with binge eating disorder and 14 with ED not otherwise specified) completed the WHOQoL-BREF. HRQoL scores were compared among ED subgroups and clinical information (presence of previous contacts, length of illness, psychiatric comorbidity) was considered in the analysis.ResultsOur review shows that with few exceptions ED patients have a poorer HRQoL than the healthy population of control and sometimes the mental component of HRQoL is the most involved dimension. Moreover, there are no differences in the HRQoL among ED groups, even if AN patients in some studies have a lower HRQoL scores. Furthermore, BED patients have a poorer HRQoL than obese patients who do not have binge episodes. Finally, all treatments were positively correlated with an improvement on general and specific QoL dimensions. In our sample, ED subgroups differed only for Psychological Health HRQoL scores (F = 4.072, df = 3; p = 0.01). No differences were found between inpatients and outpatients, treatment naïve and previously treated patients and patients with or without psychiatric comorbidity. Moreover, HRQoL scores were not correlated to length of illness within each ED subgroup.ConclusionsThe analysis of the literature adds some relevant information on HRQoL in ED and may address the future research toward the exploration of specific questions. One of these may be the prominent role of Psychological Health domain in HRQoL, since our study confirms that this component is able to differentiate eating disorders.

Finding the link between internalized weight-stigma and binge eating behaviors in Portuguese adult women with overweight and obesity: The mediator role of self-criticism and self-reassurance

“…In fact, eating is a common way for individuals with overweight and obesity to cope with weight-related discrimination and stigmatization experiences (Puhl & Brownell, 2006). Additionally, individuals with overweight and obesity with binge eating present poorer health outcomes and quality-of-life than those without binge eating (see Baiano et al, 2014 for a meta-analysis).…”

The role of weight self-stigma on the quality of life of women with overweight and obesity: A multi-group comparison between binge eaters and non-binge eaters

“…In fact, literature has been consistently showing that BE patients present poorer health-related quality-of -life (HRQoL), which includes physical and mental functioning and well-being, even when compared with patients with obesity without BE (see Baiano et al, 2014 for a meta-analysis; Kolotkin et al, 2004;Mannucci et al, 1999;Rieger, Wilfley, Stein, Marino, & Crow, 2005;Vancampfort et al 2014;De Zwaan et al, 2002).…”

Psychosocial and metabolic function by smoking status in individuals with binge eating disorder and obesity

“…In addition, maladaptive eating patterns associated with BED (e.g., meal skipping, irregular meal consumption) have been linked to metabolic abnormalities (Roehrig, Masheb, White, & Grilo, 2009; Sierra-Johnson et al, 2008). BED has also been found to be a psychiatric disorder with significant impact on the quality of life in general (Baiano et al, 2014; Winkler et al, 2014). …”