Dietary underreporting in women with schizophrenia requiring dietary intervention: a case control study

The purpose of this study was to evaluate diet underreporting of women treated for schizophrenia undergoing dietary treatment and to compare it with nonpsychiatric women.

The study included 23 women (13 with schizophrenia) who had actively sought treatment for weight loss. All subjects were smokers with low activity level. A 24-hour diet recall using standardized food models was used to collect energy intake (EI) reporting . In order to identify participants who reported low EI, we used the Goldberg cut-off methodology.

The percentage of underreporters was higher in patients with schizophrenia [77%, 95% confidence interval (46-95%)] than in controls [50%, 95% confidence interval (19-81%)].

Diet underreporting is a frequent phenomenon in women with schizophrenia requiring dietary intervention.