Eating disorders: Urgent call for help with binge eating disorder

Binge eating has become more widespread and more debilitating than anorexia or bulimia, advocates warn, prompting calls for health practitioners to be better trained in identifying it.

Health practitioners should be trained in identifying binge eating disorder in obese patients as the condition has become more widespread and more debilitating than anorexia or bulimia, the Butterfly Foundation warns.

Patients in larger bodies who seek help for an eating disorder often experience stigma because they present in a larger body but due to the rising numbers of cases this approach must change so that appropriate care and support can be provided, Dr. Sarah Squire, manager of knowledge, research and policy at Butterfly told The Courier-Mail.

Sufferers of binge eating disorder do not purge like those who are battling bulimia so obesity is one of the main comorbidities.

New research from the Queensland Centre for Mental Health Research shows binge-eating disorder and Other Specified Feeding and Eating Disorders (OSFED) are more prevalent, cause more disability and warrant more attention from health policymakers and service providers. OSFED is a classification for those who do not meet the diagnostic criteria for any other eating disorder.

The study published in The Lancet Psychiatry and led by Dr Damian Santomauro found that in 2019, 41.9m people globally had binge-eating disorder and OSFED compared with just 13.6m people worldwide who had anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa.

“Binge eating disorder and OSFED have greater numbers of male sufferers, compared to anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. There is a misconception that it only girls and young women experience eating disorders. OSFED is important to highlight because many people who develop OSFED go on to develop anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Detecting and treating OSFED can therefore be a way of intervening early before eating disorder symptoms become more severe and enduring,” Dr Squire said.

The Queensland researchers have called for the inclusion of these lesser known conditions in the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) Study, a worldwide epidemiological study that quantifies mortality and disability from diseases, injuries and risk, and helps clinicians, and policymakers to plan a health system response.

“Our results show that the formal inclusion of binge-eating disorder and OSFED in GBD is both feasible and important, and will lead to better representation of eating disorder burden globally. In turn this will enhance recognition of the burden experienced by people living with these disorders and hopefully, motivate increased investment in research, prevention and treatment in future,” Dr Santomauro said.

Butterfly National Helpline: 1800 ED HOPE (1800 33 4673)