Prevalence of Alcohol and Other Substance Use in Patients with Eating Disorders.

Objective: The major aim of this study was to investigate any association between binge eating and purging and alcohol and substance use.

Methods: The Eating Disorder Questionnaire was completed by 2966 patients. Each patient was assigned to an approximate diagnostic group based on a DSM-5-based algorithm.

Results: Patients with bulimia nervosa (BN) used alcohol/other substances with higher frequencies compared to patients with anorexia nervosa-restricting type (AN-R), binge eating disorder (BED), and eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS; p < 0.001). Patients with anorexia nervosa-binge eating/purging type (AN-BP) were more likely to use alcohol/substances than those with AN-R [odds ratio for alcohol use: 3.58 (p < 0.01); odds ratio for substance use: 30.14 (p < 0.01)]. Higher frequencies of binge eating and purging were associated with higher frequencies of substance use.

Conclusions: Patients who manifest both binge eating and purging behaviour are at higher risk of substance use which may have important treatment implications.