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Eating disorders in adolescent girls with insulin‐dependent diabetes mellitus: a population‐based case‐control study
Author(s) -
Engström I,
Kroon M,
Arvidsson CG,
Segnestam K,
Snellman K,
Åman J
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
acta pædiatrica
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.772
H-Index - 115
eISSN - 1651-2227
pISSN - 0803-5253
DOI - 10.1111/j.1651-2227.1999.tb01078.x
Subject(s) - medicine , eating disorders , overweight , diabetic ketoacidosis , diabetes mellitus , population , eating disorder inventory , anorexia nervosa , type 1 diabetes , binge eating disorder , bulimia nervosa , anorexia , insulin , psychiatry , pediatrics , endocrinology , body mass index , environmental health
In this study the prevalence of eating disorders in a population‐based cohort of 89 female patients with type 1 diabetes, 14–18 y of age, was compared with that in age‐matched healthy controls. Of all diabetic girls in the study area, 92% participated in the study. The majority were treated with multiple insulin injections and the mean HbA 1c of the participants was 8.4%. On average, diabetic girls were 6.8 kg heavier than the controls. A two‐stage design was used. The first consisted of a validated self‐report questionnaire, the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI). Girls who had high scores were then interviewed about eating habits and mental health using a semistructured interview, the BAB‐T (Assessment of Anorexia‐Bulimia ‐ Teenager version). No cases of anorexia or bulimia nervosa were found, but 15 diabetic patients (16.9%) compared with 2 control girls (2.2%), p < 0.01, had disturbed eating behaviour according to the questionnaire. In 6 of these 15 diabetic girls an eating disorder was confirmed at the interview, mainly binge eating and self‐induced vomiting. None of the control girls showed an eating disorder. Overweight diabetic girls scored higher on EDI than non‐overweight diabetic girls (x 2 = 4.9; p = 0.038). No relationships were found between EDI scores and metabolic control (HbA 1c ), dose of insulin, frequency of hypoglycaemia or diabetic ketoacidosis.