A comparison of two approaches to the assessment of binge eating in obesity

To compare two different methods of assessing binge eating in a sample of 128 obese women enrolled in a weight loss protocol.

Prior to treatment, participants completed the Binge Eating Scale (BES) and the Questionnaire on Eating and Weight Patterns (QEWP), as well as measures of other relevant constructs. They were then classified as bingers and nonbingers by each method and chance-corrected agreement was calculated.

The BES and QEWP identified a small and nearly equal number of subjects as having significant binge eating, but there was only modest overlap between the two groups (kappa of .45). Subgroup comparisons revealed fundamental differences between the BES and QEWP in the assessment of the critical and associated features of binge eating.

The relative merits of these two approaches to classifying binge eaters and implications for the design of new methods are discussed.