Objective: This study aimed to examine the frequency of eating
disorders (ED) in patients with bipolar disorder (BD) compared to
healthy controls, and to investigate potential relationships between
eating attitudes, quality of life, and personality traits as measured by the
Behavioral Inhibition System and Behavioral Activation System (BIS/
BAS)
Method: The study was designed as a cross-sectional study in the
psychiatry outpatient clinic. We included 76 BD patients and 74
controls who were similar in terms of gender, age, and education level.
We utilized Behavioral Inhibition System/Behavioral Activation System
Scale (BIS/BASS), Night Eating Questionnaire (NEQ), Eating Attitude
Test (EAT), Eating Disorders Examination Questionnaire (EDE-Q),
and Quality of Life Scale Short Form (SF-36).
Results: The frequency of ED was 18.4% in participants with BD
and 1.3% in the control group. Compared with the control group;
the physical function subscales scores, role difficulty physical subscales
scores, social function and role difficulty emotional subscale scores of
SF-36 were lower in BD patients; while the BAS, the EAT, the NEQ
scales and eating concern, body concern and weight concern subscales
and mean scores of the EDE-Q were found to be higher.
Conclusions: The frequency of ED is increased in BD patients. Our
study is one of very few in the literature to examine the comorbidity of
BD and ED, and the factor associated with the presence of ED. The data
obtained will hopefullly contribute to better diagnosis and treatment
Keywords: Bipolar disorder, behavioral activation systems, behavioral
ınhibition system, eating attitude test, eating disorder