Eating Disturbances More Common in Diabetic Girls

From Reuters:

NEW YORK - Preteen and early teenage girls with type 1 diabetes experience eating disturbances more often than girls without the condition, according to Canadian researchers.

As reported in the journal Diabetes Care, Dr. Patricia Colton and colleagues, from the University of Toronto, compared the rate of eating disturbances in 101 diabetic and 303 non-diabetic girls.

The subjects completed the Children's Eating Disorder Examination interview, and the investigators assessed socioeconomic status, body weight, and various diabetes-related factors.

The same proportion of diabetic and nondiabetic girls - 16 percent - reported at least one disturbed eating episode in the previous month. However, 8 percent of diabetic girls reported currently engaging in at least two disturbed eating behaviors compared with just 1 percent of non-diabetic girls.

Eleven percent of girls with diabetes reported dieting in the previous month, not that much different from the rate in the non-diabetic group - 15 percent. On the other hand, 10 percent of diabetic girls took part in excessive exercise for weight control compared with only 1 percent of girls without diabetes.

Binge eating was also more common among diabetic girls (3 percent) than among non-diabetic girls (0.3 percent).

Given these findings, the researchers conclude that eating disorder "screening and prevention programs for (diabetic girls) should begin in the preteen years."

SOURCE: Diabetes Care, July 2004.