Prevalence Of Disordered Eating Behaviors In Individuals With Mental Illness-A Systematic Review

Objective: Disordered eating behaviors are more prevalent and generally are subtle as compared to eating disorders. The objective was to review the empirical studies that have determined the prevalence of disordered eating behaviors in patients with psychiatric illness. Method: This review followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. We searched Medline (OVID), EMBASE, PsycINFO (OVID) and the Web of Science databases from inception to April 2017. Three reviewers independently screened the citations and included them if they reported the prevalence of disordered eating behaviors in patients with primary diagnosis of mental illnesses (i.e. mood disorders, anxiety disorders, substance use disorder, and schizophrenia spectrum disorder). Data-extraction was performed using a pre-piloted data extraction form and a narrative synthesis of the data of the prevalence of eating disorders was carried out. Results: Thirteen studies were included in this review. The evidence suggests that the individuals seeking treatment for various mental illnesses endorsed having disordered eating behaviors such as binge eating, fasting, purging (use of diuretics, diet pills, and laxatives; vomiting and excessive exercise), loss of control over eating, bulimic tendency and anorexia. The prevalence range of binge eating (19.0%-44.0%), bulimic tendency (4.4%-13.2%), anorexia (19.8%), fasting (4.0%-40.0%), laxative use (1.0%-11.1%), diuretics use (1.0%-1.6%), vomiting (1.6%-8.6%), diet pills (36.0%), loss of control over eating (17.0%) and excessive exercise (1.0%-32.0%) were reported in the included studies. Conclusion: This review provides evidence on the prevalence of disordered eating behaviors in a wide spectrum of psychiatric illnesses. The results of this review should be interpreted with caution due to limitations. There is a clear need for studies with a larger sample size to confirm the findings and further the understanding of the prevalence of the specific type of disordered eating behaviors in psychiatric populations.