Comparison of clinical features between primary and drug-induced sleep-related eating disorder

The aim of this study was to ascertain the clinical characteristics of drug-induced sleep-related eating disorder (SRED).

We retrospectively reviewed the medical records of 30 patients with primary SRED (without any comorbid sleep disorders and who were not taking any possible causative medications), and ten patients with drug-induced SRED (occurrence of SRED episodes after starting nightly medication of sedative drugs, which completely resolved after dose reduction or discontinuation of the sedatives).

All patients with drug-induced SRED took multiple types of sedatives, such as benzodiazepines or benzodiazepine receptor agonists. Clinical features of drug-induced SRED compared with primary SRED were as follows: higher mean age of onset (40 years old in drug-induced SRED vs 26 years old in primary SRED), significantly higher rate of patients who had total amnesia during most of their SRED episodes (75.0% vs 31.8%), significantly lower rate of comorbidity of night eating syndrome (0% vs 63.3%), and significantly lower rate of history of sleepwalking (10.0% vs 46.7%). Increased doses of benzodiazepine receptor agonists may be responsible for drug-induced SRED.

The clinical features of drug-induced SRED were different from those of primary SRED, possibly reflecting differences in the underlying mechanisms between these two categories of SREDs.