title: Psychiatric disorder co-morbidity and correlates in an ethnically diverse sample of obese patients with binge eating disorder in primary care settings.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine DSM-IV lifetime/current psychiatric disorder co-morbidity and correlates in ethnically-diverse obese patients with binge eating disorder (BED) seeking treatment for obesity and binge eating in primary care.
  
  
  METHODS
  A consecutive series of 142 participants (43% Caucasian, 37% African-American, 13% Hispanic-American, and 7% "other" ethnicity) were evaluated with semi-structured interviews.
  
  
  RESULTS
  67% of BED patients had at least one additional lifetime psychiatric disorder, with mood (49%), anxiety (41%), and substance-use (22%) disorders most common. In terms of current co-morbidity, 37% had at least one other psychiatric disorder, with anxiety (27%) and mood (17%) most common. Few gender differences were observed but psychiatric co-morbidity rates differed across ethnic/racial groups with larger differences for current diagnoses. African-American and Hispanic groups were more than twice as likely as the Caucasian group to have additional current psychiatric disorders, mood disorders, and anxiety disorders. Psychiatric co-morbidity was associated with greater eating-disorder psychopathology and poorer functioning, but not with binge-eating or BMI.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study presents new findings suggesting that among obese BED patients in primary care, ethnic/racial minority groups are more likely than Caucasian groups to present with psychiatric co-morbidity. Within BED, psychiatric co-morbidity shows few gender differences but is associated with greater eating-disorder psychopathology and poorer functioning.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06519, USA. carlos.grilo@yale.edu
authors.forename: Carlos M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Grilo
authors.forename: Marney A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: White
authors.forename: Rachel D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Barnes
authors.forename: Robin M
authors.initials: RM
authors.lastname: Masheb
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D056912:Binge-Eating Disorder / Q000208:ethnology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000208:ethnology*; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000208:ethnology; D011320:Primary Health Care; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D044469:Racial Groups; D017678:Sex Distribution