People with binge-eating disorder may be at a higher risk of a broad range of other illnesses, with the strongest associations with endocrine and circulatory systems, a new study has warned.
Individuals with binge-eating disorder (BED) had a 2.5-times increased risk of having an endocrine disorder and a 1.9-times increased risk of having a circulatory system disorder, researchers, including those from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in the US found.
Among individuals with BED, those who were also obese had a 1.5-times increased risk of having a respiratory disease and a 2.6-times increased risk of having a gastrointestinal disease than those who were not obese, they said.
BED is an eating disorder characterised by recurrent episodes of eating large quantities of food (often very quickly and to the point of discomfort).
The findings may help improve detection of BED and improve the health of affected individuals.
"We encourage clinicians to 'have the conversation' about BED with their patients. Accurate screening and detection can bring BED out of the shadows and get people the treatment they deserve," said senior author of the study, Dr Cynthia Bulik from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
"BED afflicts people of all shapes and sizes. The somatic illnesses that we detected were not simply effects of being overweight or obese," she added.
The research was published in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.
