Screening and identification of disordered eating in people with type 1 diabetes: A systematic review

People with Type 1 diabetes (T1D) have been shown to be an at-risk group for the development of disordered eating behaviours, however, the validity of tools used to assess disordered eating behaviours in T1D is unclear. This review aimed to identify tools used to screen or identify disordered eating behaviours and eating disorders in people with T1D, and evaluate the validity and reliability of these tools. A systematic search strategy was conducted to October 2019 according to the PRISMA guidelines. The search strategy retrieved 2714 articles, with 100 articles describing 90 studies included in the review. Studies were predominantly conducted in adolescent females in clinical settings. Forty-eight individual tools were used across retrieved studies. Overall, the quality of tools reported in included articles was poor, with high risk of bias due to the use of non-validated tools (n = 44 articles) and few studies comparing to the reference standard (n = 10 articles) of a diagnostic interview. This review shows that a variety of tools have been used to screen and identify disordered eating behaviours and eating disorders in people with T1D. Future research including comparison to a gold standard diagnostic interview is warranted to further evaluate the validity and reliability of available tools.