Endocrine Abstracts

Background and Aims: the war has become a stressful factor for many people in Ukraine. It is known that eating disorders (ED) might be triggered by a great stress. Binge eating disorder (BED) and night eating syndrome (NES) belong to hyperphagic ED mostly affecting those with obesity and diabetes type 2 (DT2). In our study we investigated how the war changed eating behavior and metabolic control in DT2 patients.

Materials and Methods: 63 individuals (mean age – 54.1±7.3 years; BMI - 34.8±3.6 kg/m²) with DT2 and without previous history of BED or NES were recruited into the study. All participants were receiving adequate therapy and did not stop taking antidiabetic medications during study period. They completed Binge eating scale-7 and Night eating questionnaire to diagnose BED and NES respectively. The level of glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) before the war was checked in electronic healthcare system and measured again during war conditions.

Results: 9 participants (14.3%) were screened positive with BED and 7 (11.1) – with NES. The current HbA1c level was significantly higher (7.8% vs 9.1%, P<0.05) when comparing with its level before the war. 12 (19%) participants reported about more frequent binge episodes that occur after the end of air raid warning. 5 (7.9%) individuals reported about binge episodes during the electricity blackout.

Conclusion: metabolic control of DT2 depends on a reaction to stressful life conditions. A serious stress factor for initiating BED and NES is war. Binge episodes occur more frequent during stressful events such as air raid warning or blackouts. War conditions require a tight metabolic control and an adequate stress management to avoid decompensation of diabetes and development of ED.