Abstract
BackgroundVery little is known about the prevalence of ADHD symptoms in Bulimia Nervosa and Binge Eating Disorder and even less in other eating disorders. This knowledge gap is of clinical importance since stimulant treatment is proven effective in Binge Eating Disorder and discussed as a treatment possibility for Bulimia Nervosa. The objective of this study was to explore the prevalence and types of self-reported ADHD symptoms in an unselected group of eating disorder patients assessed in a specialized eating disorder clinic.MethodsIn total 1165 adults with an eating disorder were assessed with a battery of standardized instruments, for measuring inter alia ADHD screening, demographic variables, eating disorder symptoms and psychiatric comorbidity. Chi-square tests were used for categorical variables and Kruskal-Wallis tests for continuous variables.ResultsAlmost one third (31.3 %) of the patients scored above the screening cut off indicating a possible ADHD. The highest prevalence rates (35–37 %) were found in Bulimia Nervosa and Anorexia Nervosa bingeing/purging subtype, while Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified type 1–4 and Binge Eating Disorder patients reported slightly below average (26–31 %), and Anorexia Nervosa restricting subtype patients even lower (18 %). Presence of binge eating, purging, loss of control over eating and non-anorectic BMI were related to results indicating a possible ADHD. Psychiatric comorbidity correlated to ADHD symptoms without explaining the differences between eating disorder diagnoses.ConclusionsThere is a high frequency of ADHD symptoms in patients with binge eating/purging eating disorders that motivates further studies, particularly concerning the effects of ADHD medication. The finding that the frequency of ADHD symptoms in anorexia nervosa with binge eating/purging is as high as in bulimia nervosa highlights the need also for this group.
Highlights
Very little is known about the prevalence of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms in Bulimia Nervosa and Binge Eating Disorder and even less in other eating disorders
We examined the relationship between eating disorders (ED) and ADHD symptoms in adults of both genders using prospectively collected quality register data covering the full range of ED diagnoses
12.5 % for patients belonging to the Eating Disorder Not Otherwise Specified (EDNOS) type 5 group, resulting in a prevalence of WHO adult ADHD self-rating scale (ASRS)-screener results indicating a possible ADHD of 31.3 % in the whole patient group (n = 1165). (Table 2)
Summary
Very little is known about the prevalence of ADHD symptoms in Bulimia Nervosa and Binge Eating Disorder and even less in other eating disorders. Very little is known about the prevalence of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) symptoms in Bulimia Nervosa (BN) and Binge Eating Disorder (BED) and even less in other eating disorders (ED) [1]. This knowledge gap is of clinical importance, not least since. Both ED and ADHD are common and serious disorders with longstanding debilitating symptoms The lifetime prevalence of ED for females has been estimated to 0.9 % for Anorexia Nervosa (AN), 1.5 % for BN and 3.5 % for BED [6]. There is a high comorbidity of other psychiatric disorders in ED [10, 11]
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