[Nocturnal eating syndrome]

A clinical and polysomnographic study of two patients with nocturnal eating syndrome (recurrent awakenings associated with the need to eat and difficulty in returning to sleep it the patient does not eat).

Two patients, one 36-year-old male and one 41-year-old woman underwent clinical tests (including a psychopathological study based on a structured interview and a series of psychometric tests) and polysomnographical tests with audiovisual recording.

The two patients presented a history since adolescence and insidious, progressive course of multiple nocturnal episodes associated with the need to eat and difficulty in returning to sleep if they did not do so. The polysomnographic study with video demonstrated awakenings in all the phases of sleep which were rapidly followed by food intake discarding other diseases. The biochemical, hormonal and neuroimaging studies were normal. The two patients showed alterations in alimentary habits characterized by gorging and a psychiatric profile of obsessive and compulsive traits. Bulimia and anorexia nervosa were excluded.

The association of nocturnal eating syndrome with a compulsive alimentary pattern and the presence of obsessive-compulsive features in exception and suggests a common mechanism characterized by compulsive acts. Polysomnographic recording allows confirmation of the clinical diagnosis of nocturnal eating syndrome and discards other diseases.