New Onset Comorbidities Following the Diagnosis of Binge Eating Disorder in Adults: Findings From a Retrospective Cohort Study

There is a high comorbidity burden in adults diagnosed with binge eating disorder (BED). In this retrospective cohort study, adult BED patients were identified by using natural language processing (NLP) of clinical notes sourced from the Optum electronic health record database between January 1, 2009 and September 30, 2015. This analysis describes new-onset comorbidities during the first year after the index date (ie, date of first BED recognition) and the entire post-index date study period. A total of 1042 BED patients were included in the analysis. During the 12 months before and including the index date, comorbidities reported by >20% of patients included metabolic-related comorbidities (obesity/overweight, 74.1%; hypertension, 45.8%; hyperlipidemia, 44.0%; treated hypertension, 39.2%; diabetes type I or II, 25.0%), psychiatric comorbidities (major depressive disorder [MDD], 48.5%; anxiety, dissociative, or somatoform disorder, 42.7%; eating disorders not otherwise specified, 32.7%), and the medical comorbidity of gastroesophageal reflux (24.3%). New-onset comorbidities reported by >5% of patients during both the first-year post-index date and the entire post-index date period, respectively, included metabolic-related comorbidities (hyperlipidemia, 6.2% and 7.7%; obesity/overweight, 5.4% and 7.5%), psychiatric comorbidities (anxiety, dissociative, or somatoform disorder, 9.3% and 12.4%; MDD, 7.0% and 9.9%), and the medical comorbidity of gastroesophageal reflux (9.0% and 12.8%). The frequency of new-onset bariatric surgery was 18.1% during the first-year post index date and 20.2% over the entire post-index period. In conclusion, BED patients identified using NLP of clinical notes exhibited new-onset metabolic, psychiatric, and medical comorbidities within the first year after recognition of a BED.

This poster was presented at the 32nd annual Psych Congress, held Oct. 3-6, 2019, in San Diego, California.