Weight excess and obesity are associated with binge-eating behaviours in people with HIV

Binge eating is a mental health disorder related to weight gain, whose prevalence/correlation with weight excess in people with HIV (PWH) have been scarcely investigated.Design: A cross-sectional study of PWH who underwent the validated Binge Eating Scale (BES) questionnaire.

We included adult PWH during routine visits from October 2022 to February 2023. The BES questionnaire was administered with the support of a psychiatrist (score <17 binge eating very unlikely, binge eating ≥17 possible/very likely). We performed a logistic regression for the binary outcome BES at least 17 and being overweighted/obese as effect measure of risk association, and then adjusted for possible confounders (as integrase inhibitor exposure) and performed a sensitivity analysis fitting the regression model including and excluding depression (which may drive binge eating).

We included 1204 PWH, 75.2% men, median age 53 years [interquartile range (IQR): 44-60], 95.6% with undetectable HIV-RNA. As for BMI, we had overweight and obesity in 35.1 and 19.4% cases. Considering BES, 1089 (90.4%) PWH had a score less than 17, 115 (9.6%) at least 17. Multivariable analysis showed that obesity [odds ratio (OR) = 6.21, P  < 0.0001), overweight (OR = 2.21, P  = 0.006) and depression (OR = 1.98, P  = 0.028) were significantly associated with high BES score. By excluding depression, our results were confirmed, and obesity/overweight remained significantly associated with binge eating (obesity OR = 6.58, P  < 0.0001, overweight OR = 2.17, P  = 0.023).

Binge eating should be considered among possible causes of weight gain in PWH. Our results push towards an in-depth study of this topic for a better understanding of the phenomenon in PWH, possibly identifying subgroups of this population who could benefit from a psychoeducational/psychological intervention to preventing WG.