Type 1 diabetes mellitus and eating disorders

The choice of type and quantity of food is vital to achieving glycaemic control in diabetes, more so in type 1 diabetes mellitus. The attention to detail could however reach a level of obsession of an eating disorder and thereby have a negative impact on glycaemic control. We conducted a study to see if there was a risk of developing eating disorders among adolescent, young and middle-aged adults with type 1 diabetes mellitus and whether it has an association with HbA(1)C levels. A cross-sectional study was conducted on 113 type 1 diabetes mellitus patients and age-gender-matched healthy controls. The two groups were screened using the Eating Attitude Test-26 (EAT-26) questionnaire. EAT-26 identified type 1 diabetes as having a high risk for developing eating disorder when compared to those without diabetes (OR = 38.5 with 95% CI 8.7, 170.7; p < 0.001). The risk of developing eating disorder increased with the duration of diabetes. There was no significant difference in the risk between males and females. The risk of developing eating disorder did not correlate with glycaemic control. EAT-26 identified subjects with type 1 diabetes as high risk for developing eating disorder in comparison to those without diabetes. In our setting, this did not reflect on poor glycaemic control.