Recognizing disordered eating in primary care patients with obesity

Area of Science:

• Obesity research
• Behavioral science
• Primary care medicine

Background:

• Traditional obesity treatments emphasize diet and exercise.
• These methods may be insufficient for individuals with disordered eating patterns.
• Limited data exists on disordered eating prevalence in obese primary care populations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To determine the prevalence of disordered eating behaviors in obese primary care patients.
• To investigate the association between disordered eating and difficulty with dietary changes.
• To explore demographic differences in disordered eating patterns.

Main Methods:

• Telephone interviews with 337 obese adults (BMI ≥ 35 kg/m²).
• Utilized the Three-Factor Eating Questionnaire R-18 and IWQOL-Lite.
• Assessed perceived difficulty in making dietary changes.

Main Results:

• 50% reported high emotional eating; 28% reported high uncontrolled eating.
• Women and Caucasians showed higher prevalence of emotional and uncontrolled eating.
• Poorer quality of life correlated with increased emotional and uncontrolled eating scores.
• Disordered eating was linked to greater difficulty in implementing dietary changes.

Conclusions:

• Disordered eating behaviors are highly prevalent in obese primary care patients.
• These behaviors disproportionately affect women and Caucasians, and those with lower quality of life.
• Screening for disordered eating is recommended to personalize obesity management strategies.