New Research Links Eating Disorders to Diabetes

Sharon Moore February 04, 2014

Obesity, insulin resistance, and genetics are among the most common risk factors for type 2 diabetes. Now, new research found that impulse control disorders such as eating disorder and depression may also increase one’s risk of this debilitating disease.

A team of researchers from the University of Groningen, Netherlands, headed by Dr Peter de Jonge, used the World Mental Health Surveys to examine the associations between a wide range of DSM-IV mental disorders and diabetes diagnosis. This allowed them to investigate the association between first onset of mood, anxiety, impulse control (including eating disorders) and substance use disorders with diabetes diagnosis in a large international sample, with data coming from 19 countries.

The current study involved over 50,000 participants. Researchers identified 2,580 cases of adult-onset diabetes diagnosed among those aged 21 years and over.

Even though all 16 DSM-IV disorders were associated with diabetes diagnosis, the same was not true after adjustment for the presence of other mental health conditions. After taking into account other factors, only depression, intermittent explosive disorder, binge eating disorder, and bulimia nervosa independently increased the risk of diabetes diagnosis.

While the association between depression and diabetes is within the range reported in other meta-analyses, the authors say the association between impulse control disorders (including eating disorders) and diabetes has not been reported before.

“While the estimates of prevalence for these mental health disorders vary at a population level, effective interventions to prevent these conditions might ultimately,” the researchers wrote, “prevent substantial numbers of diabetes diagnoses.” According to them, whilst previous studies have explored the associations between diabetes and depression, most have been conducted in Europe and the U.S. But diabetes and depression vary in prevalence worldwide, and more global studies are needed.

“Our findings thus suggest that the focus on depression in the context of diabetes prediction is warranted, but this focus may be extended to impulse control disorders.” they conclude.

Source of this article:

Impulse Control Difficulties Linked to Diabetes