Relations between Intensity of Symptoms of Eating Disorders and Glycated Hemoglobin, Number of Complications, Mood, and Problems with Type 2 Diabetes in a One-Year Follow-Up Study

Objective: Assessment of the relations between intensity of symptoms of eating disorders with psychological factors, glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels, and number of complications in type 2 diabetes (T2D). Materials and methods: Sixty-eight (68) individuals aged 38 to 71 years (M = 61.1; SD = 8.2) took part in the baseline of prospective and 36 (52.9%) in followup after one year. They completed the Eating Attitude Test (EAT-26), Questionnaire for Binge Eating Screening (QBES), Brief Self-Rating Scale of Depression and Anxiety (BS-RSDA), and Problem Areas in Diabetes Questionnaire (PAID). Results: At baseline, 12 individuals (18.5%) met the screening criteria of eating disorders and 29 (42.6%) met the screening criteria of binge eating disorder. The level of HbA1c among persons with symptoms of eating disorders was significantly higher than in the group without these symptoms. The intensity of binge eating at baseline was significantly correlated with intensity of depressive symptoms after 6 months (r = 0.34) and 12 months (r = 0.52), anxiety symptoms after 6 months (r = 0.42) and 12 months (r = 0.49), and problems with diabetes after 6 months (r = 0.5). Intensity of bulimia and food preoccupation symptoms at baseline was correlated after 6 months with intensity of anxiety symptoms (r = 0.35) and problems with diabetes (r = 0.52) and HbA1c level (r = –0.42), and after 12 months with intensity of symptoms of anxiety (r = 0.56), depression (r = 0.35), and problems with diabetes (r = 0.39). Conclusions: The intensity of eating disorder symptoms had moderate correlations with the level of depressive and anxiety symptoms and intensity of diabetes-related problems. Due the small and nonrepresentative sample size, these findings should be confirmed in a future high-quality study.