Preferences for Lisdexamfetamine vs Cognitive-Behavioral Therapy for Binge-Eating Disorder: Correlates and Outcomes

Background: Efficacious treatments for binge-eating disorder (BED) have been identified, but research is lacking regarding patients' treatment preferences and their effects on outcomes. We investigated the frequency and correlates of patients' preferences for 2 distinct BED treatments-cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and lisdexamfetamine (LDX)-and whether preferences predicted and/or moderated outcomes.

Method: In a randomized controlled trial (performed March 2019 to September 2023) testing CBT and LDX for DSM-5- defined BED, 102 participants indicated their preference after treatments were described and prior to beginning treatment. Treatment was randomly assigned (not influenced by preferences). Independent assessors, blinded to treatments and to patients' treatment preferences, performed outcome assessments.

Results: 43.1% (44/102) preferred LDX, 23.5% (24/102) preferred CBT, and 33.3% (34/102) reported no preference. Treatment preference was not significantly associated with any sociodemographic or baseline clinical characteristics. Logistic regression models (for binge-eating remission and attaining ≥5% weight loss) and mixed models (for changes in binge-eating frequency, weight, eating disorder psychopathology, and depression) testing main effects of treatments, main effects of treatment preferences, and their interaction effects converged. No significant interaction effects between treatment and treatment preferences were observed.

Conclusions: In this study comparing CBT and LDX treatments for BED in patients with obesity, participants' preferences for treatments were not associated with their sociodemographic or clinical characteristics and did not moderate treatment outcomes of these 2 effective interventions. Implications for clinical practice and future research are discussed.

Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT03924193.