Boulanger H, et al. – This study aspired to gauge the prevalence of binge eating (BE) behaviour and any correlations with illness characteristics, anxiety, impulsivity, emotional regulation and eating habits. It was determined to be common in females and males with Bipolar disorder (BD). Emotional dysregulation and anxiety could represent novel shared vulnerability factors for worse outcome of BD and an increased tendency of BE behaviour.

Methods

• The enrollment comprised of 145 outpatients with BD (I and II).
• Candidates were examined for the presence of BE behaviour using the Binge Eating Scale (BES).
• Characteristics identified in univariate analyses as differentiating BD cases with and without BE behaviour were incorporated in a backward stepwise logistic regression (BSLR) model.

Results

• 18.6% of BD patients met criteria for BE behaviour.
• Multivariate analysis (BSLR) illustrated that shorter duration of BD, and higher levels of anxiety and emotional reactivity were noted in BD with, compared to BD without, BE behaviour.