Endocrine Abstracts

Controversial data exist regarding the prevalence of eating disorders in individuals with diabetes. EAT-26 questionnaire is as a validated widely used self-reported tool recommended in general population for assessing eating disorder risk. The study aimed to determine the prevalence of abnormal eating behavior in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and a matched sample of nondiabetic control subjects.

Research design and methods: A total 63 participants were randomly selected: 29 patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus and 34 nondiabetic control subjects. No significant differences existed between cases and controls for age or ethnicity. Responses of diabetic patients to the EAT-26 were compared with those of a nondiabetic control group. The score of 20 or higher defined as positive cut off, the mean values of each question in both groups were taking into account.

Results: A total of 14.7% (n=5) of the control subjects and 34.4% (n=10) of the diabetic subjects scored above the predetermined screening cut off. The majority among screen positive participants were women: 100% in control group and 60% in diabetes group. However, the assessment of the mean values on each item revealed the statistically significant differences registered on 16, 17 question concerning ‘eating dieting foods’ and ‘avoiding food with sugar’ (P<0.001). The higher average scores were in group of patients with DM 2.03 and 1.58 accordingly vs 0.53 and 0.38 in control group. We suggest that these items could reflect the total scores and distort the data.

Conclusions: Recent research indicates the higher prevalence of possible eating disorders among patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus on the total EAT-26, as compared to the control subjects (34.4% vs 14.7%). Moreover, further work is needed to establish the diagnostic validity of EAT-26 across diabetic subgroup.