ADHD Affects the Efficacy of Treatment for Eating Disorders in Adult Women

Swedish researchers examined outcomes for adult women who sought treatment at the Stockholm Centre for Eating Disorders over a period of two years and nine months. Out of 1,517 women who came to the clinic 1,143 remained eligible for the study, after excluding women whose symptoms did not fulfill the DSM-IV criteria for eating disorders or had incomplete records.

Of these, seven hundred patients could not be reached or declined to participate, leaving 443 for follow-up. To guard against the possibility that the follow-up group might not be representative of the overall treatment group, researchers compared age, body mass index, and scores on tests for depression, anxiety, compulsivity, inattention, and hyperactivity. The only statistically significant differences were small ones. The median age of the group lost to follow-up was one year younger, they were less likely to be living alone, and on average scored a single point higher on the depression test. Otherwise they were broadly similar.

The one-year follow-up on the study group found a substantial difference in rate of recovery from eating disorders between those with and without comorbid ADHD. Almost three out of four patients (72%) who scored lower (between 0-17) on the World Health Organization adult ADHD self-report scale had recovered from their eating disorder. Among those scoring 18 and higher, on the other hand, it was less than half (47%). This difference was extraordinarily unlikely (one chance in one thousand) to be due to chance (p=.001).

Another way of expressing this is through odds ratios. Those scoring 18 and up on the ADHD self-report scale were about two and a half times less likely to recover from their eating disorders following treatment. More specifically, they were about three times less likely to recover from loss of control and binging, and almost three and a half times less likely to recover from purging.

To improve outcomes, the researchers suggest “identifying concomitant ADHD symptoms and customizing treatment interventions based on this.” They specifically propose controlled clinical trials to explore the effect of combining stimulant medications with standard treatment for eating disorders.

REFERENCES
Nils Erik Svedlund, Claes Norring, Ylva Ginsberg, Yvonne von Hausswolff‐Juhlin, “Are treatment results for eating disorders affected by ADHD symptoms? A one‐year follow‐up of adult females,” European Eating Disorders Review (2018).