Abstract
To clarify the prevalence of eating disorders (ED), i.e., anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and binge eating; abnormal eating habits (AEH); and others (others), we studied the clinical records of 96 hospitalized type 1 diabetes patients (31 men and 65 women from 20 to 40 years old) using five psychological tests, i.e., eating disorder eating disorder inventory (EDI), Zung self-rating depression scale (SDS), state-trait anxiety inventory (STAI), problem areas in diabetes surrey (PAID) and multi-dimensional perfectionism scale (MPS), and structured interviews. ED at 13.5% and AEH at 26.0% predominated and were more frequent in women, who also showed higher subscale scores for “penchant for thinness” and “body dissatisfaction”. Diabetic retinopathy and nephropathy were more frequent in ED patients than in the other two groups. “Perfectionism” and “ineffectiveness” on the EDI subscale and “parental expectations” on the MPS subscale were related to diabetic microangiopathy. About 10% of patients in the other group also had proliferative retinopathy and nephropathy. And their total scores for EDI, MPS, and other subscales were low, suggested effects of diabetes complications on their psychological background. These results suggest that early ED and AEH diagnosis is important in preventing diabetic complications in type 1 diabetes patients.
