Journal of Obesity & Eating Disorders

Periodic Binge Eating Disorder during the Social Isolation Due to Covid-19 Pandemics

Aim: Eating behavior characterized by eating a large amount of food in a limited period of time (up to two hours), accompanied by a feeling of loss of control over what or how much is eaten, is known as Binge Eating Disorder (BED). In December 2019, in the Chinese province of Wuhan, a new type of coronavirus was identified in patients, characterized by atypical pneumonia consisting of fever, dry cough and progressive dyspnea. This coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, has spread rapidly around the world, leading to a high-impact pandemic worldwide. With this, social isolation was implemented as a way to contain the transmission of the disease.

Objective: To assess binge eating during the social isolation due to COVID-19 pandemic.

Methodology: This is an analytical cross-sectional study with healthy individuals, without previous diagnosis of Binge Eating Disorder, of both sexes, who are fulfilling social isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic, reporting that they are working or studying within their houses. To collect data on binge eating episodes, the BESBinge Eating Scale, which is a widely used instrument, was used and developed to assess the severity of Periodic Binge Eating (BED) in obese individuals. It provides the result in three categories: severe BED (score>27), moderate BED (score between 18 and 26) and absence of BED (score<17). It is not a diagnostic tool, but a method of assessing the severity of impaired eating behavior. The questionnaire was previously approved by the Ethics and Research Committee and was made available for a period of one month, during the pandemic by COVID-19, where social isolation was considered a measure of recommendation by the Ministry of Health in Brazil. In addition, data such as gender, age, weight and height were also extracted from the volunteers. 500 volunteers participated in the study, aged between 18 and 50 years old, 70 men and 430 women.

Results: From the BES questionnaire, the results showed that 22.8% of the volunteers were classified with BED, 64.7% being moderate and 35.3% severe.

Conclusion: The results showed that social isolation can have an important impact on compulsive eating disorders.

Author(s):

Talie Hanada*, Rahissa Cestari, Luiz Eduardo Miguel, Bianca Miguel, Marcelo Casati and Rodrigo Pereira

Abstract | Full-Text | PDF

Share this