Links between traumatic experiences in childhood or early adulthood and lifetime binge eating disorder

Didier Quilliot (1) , Laurent Brunaud (2) , Joris Mathieu (3) , Christelle Quenot (4) , Marie-Aude Sirveaux (5) , Jean-Pierre Kahn (6) , Olivier Ziegler (1) , Pierrette Witkowski (5)

1 Service de Diabétologie, Nutrition et Maladies métaboliques [CHRU Nancy]
2 Service de Chirurgie Digestive Hépatobiliaire et Endocrine [CHRU Nancy]
3 INTERPSY - Laboratoire de psychologie de l'interaction et des relations intersubjectives
4 UL - Université de Lorraine
5 CHRU Nancy - Centre Hospitalier Régional Universitaire de Nancy
6 Fondation FondaMental [Créteil]

Objectives: To evaluate the association between childhood or early adulthood traumatic experiences and adulthood binge eating disorder (BED) in 326 male and 1158 female patients. A structured clinical interview for the DSM-IV (SCID-I/P)-adapted to lifetime exploration for the diagnosis of BED and for DSM-IV Childhood Disorders was conducted by the psychiatrist. Results: Emotional neglect was the most frequent event experienced (77.8% of females vs. 63.5% of males, p < 0.0001), ahead of physical abuse (23.3%), witnessed domestic violence (17.7%) and sexual abuse (11.8% of females vs. 2.8% of males (p < 0.0001)). The prevalence rate for BED in the whole population was 34.9%. The independent predictors for BED were emotional neglect in male obese patients (OR = 3.49; IC95% (1.94-6.29); p < 0.0001) and physical abuse (OR = 1.56; IC95% (1.14-2.12); p = 0.0047), emotional neglect (OR = 1.83; IC95% (1.37-2.44); p < 0.0001), and sexual abuse (OR = 1.80; IC95% (1.22-2.65); p = 0.0029) in female patients. With a cutoff value of 17, the sensitivity of the Binge Eating Scale for BED during lifetime was 50.8% with 74.7% specificity. Conclusions: This study shows that early psychological events are independent predictors of BED in obese female and male adults. The BES questionnaire is a poor predictor of BED during lifetime and a structured clinical interview should be recommended.

Mots clés: Psychotrauma; Obesity; Binge eating disorders; Emotional neglect

Domaines: Psychiatrie et santé mentale; Psychologie; Santé publique et épidémiologie; Alimentation et Nutrition

Didier Quilliot, Laurent Brunaud, Joris Mathieu, Christelle Quenot, Marie-Aude Sirveaux, et al.. Links between traumatic experiences in childhood or early adulthood and lifetime binge eating disorder. Psychiatry Research, 2019, 276, pp.134-141. ⟨10.1016/j.psychres.2019.05.008⟩. ⟨hal-02178350⟩