The prevalence of night eating syndrome and binge eating disorder among overweight and obese individuals with serious mental illness

Abstract

The prevalence of night eating syndrome (NES) and binge eating disorder (BED) was assessed among overweight and obese, weight-loss-seeking individuals with serious mental illness (SMI). Sixty-eight consecutive overweight (BMI≥25 kg/m2) and obese (BMI≥30 kg/m2) individuals with SMI (mean age=43.9 years; mean BMI=37.2 kg/2; 67.6% Caucasian, 60.3% female) who were enrolled in a group behavioral weight loss treatment program were assessed at baseline for NES and BED with clinician-administered diagnostic interviews. Using conservative criteria, 25.0% met criteria for NES, 5.9% met criteria for BED, and only one participant met criteria for both NES and BED. This is the first study to find that obese individuals with SMI, compared with previously studied populations, are at significantly greater risk for NES, but are not at greater risk for BED. Stress, sleep, and medication use might account for the high prevalence of NES found in this population.

The prevalence and clinical features of the night eating syndrome in psychiatric out-patient population

“…But, our figure is higher than that of Lundgreen et al, who reported the prevalence as 12.3% among general psychiatric samples [5]. Another study of Ludgren et al reported a NES rate of 40% when diagnosis was based on the proposed diagnostic criteria in patients with serious mental illnesses [6]. This difference may be due to the cultural factors or severity of psychiatric illness severity in the study sample.…”

“…those with a BMI of ≥30 kg/m 2 ) were five times more likely to meet the criteria for NES compared to non-obese (i.e. those with a BMI of 18.5-25.9 kg/m 2 ) psychiatric patients [6]. BMI was not found to be significantly different between psychiatric participants with-NES and without-NES in the previous studies [6][7][8].…”

“…In the literature, it is frequently noted that obesity or higher BMI commonly correlates with NES in general population [2,3,19]. In the studies that have compared NES with non-NES in psychiatric participants, BMI was greater in the NES group in only one study [6]. Lundgren and colleagues reported that, although their sample was, on average, overweight (mean BMI = 29.1 kg/m 2 ), obese psychiatric patients (i.e.…”

“…Lundgren and colleagues found that 12.3% of psychiatric patients met criteria for NES [5], a rate that is significantly higher than the prevalence of NES in the general population [2] and similar to the prevalence of NES among obese samples which is 6-16% [3]. Higher prevalence of major depressive disorder [7,10,11], anxiety disorders [11], schizophrenia [6,9] and substance use disorders [5] is noted among persons with NES compared with controls. There may be a reciprocal relationship between NES and psychopathology.…”

“…There are few studies in the literature that have studied the presence of NES in psychiatric outpatients [5][6][7][8][9]. The frequencies of NES in psychiatric patients and methods of studies are shown in Table 1.…”