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Eating disorders and food addiction in men with heroin use disorder: a controlled study

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Eating and Weight Disorders - Studies on Anorexia, Bulimia and Obesity Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

We aimed to determine the prevalence estimates of binge eating disorder, bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, and food addiction in men with heroin use disorder and a matched sample of control participants.

Methods

A group of 100 men with heroin use disorder, consecutively admitted to a detoxification and therapy unit, were screened for DSM-5 eating disorders, along with a group of 100 male controls of similar age, education, and body mass index. The Yale Food Addiction Scale (YFAS), the Barratt Impulsivity Scale-version 11, and the Eating Attitudes Test were used for data collection. Patients were also evaluated for various aspects of heroin use disorder (e.g., craving) using the Addiction Profile Index.

Results

Binge eating disorder that met DSM­5 criteria was more prevalent in patients with heroin use disorder (21%) than in control subjects (8%) (odds ratio 3.1, 95% confidence interval 1.3–7.3; p < 0.01). Food addiction based on the YFAS was also more common among men with heroin use disorder (28%) than among control participants (12%) (odds ratio 2.9, 95% confidence interval 1.4–6.1; p < 0.01). A current food addiction was associated with more severe craving and having a history of suicide attempts in the patients.

Conclusions

Co-occurring binge eating disorder and food addiction are highly frequent in men with heroin use disorder. Screening for binge eating disorder and food addiction in patients with substance use disorder is important, as interventions may improve treatment outcome in this patient group.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychiatry, Akdeniz University School of Medicine, 07059, Antalya, Turkey

    Fatih Canan, Servet Karaca, Suna Sogucak, Omer Gecici & Murat Kuloglu

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  1. Fatih Canan
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  2. Servet Karaca
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  3. Suna Sogucak
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Correspondence to Fatih Canan.

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Conflict of interest

Authors Fatih Canan, Servet Karaca, Suna Sogucak, Omer Gecici, and Murat Kuloğlu declare that they have no conflict of interest with respect to the content of this manuscript.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Additional information

This article is part of the topical collection on Food addiction.

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Canan, F., Karaca, S., Sogucak, S. et al. Eating disorders and food addiction in men with heroin use disorder: a controlled study. Eat Weight Disord 22, 249–257 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-017-0378-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40519-017-0378-9

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