Binge eating disorder pharmacotherapy clinical trails--who is left out?

Abstract

OBJECTIVE:

This report examined the characteristics of subjects interested in binge eating disorder (BED) pharmacotherapy trails who were ineligible for participation.

METHODS:

Data on 2685 potential subjects interested in participating in five different placebo-controlled monotherapy trails of BED were analysed.

RESULTS:

Of the 2685 potential subjects, 1230 (45.8%) were ineligible because they did not meet entry criteria, 586 (21.8%) were eligible for participation, 531 (19.8%) were not interested in the study and 338 (12.6%) were not contacted. Among the 1230 ineligible candidates, 525 (42.7%) were taking exclusionary psychotropic medication, 305 (24.8%) did not meet specified BED criteria, 157 (12.7%) were out of the required age (n = 83) or weight (n = 74) range, 212 (17.2%) had prohibited medical (n = 78) or psychiatric (n = 134) disorders and 31 (2.5%) were participating in weight loss programmes.

DISCUSSION:

Given the complexity of BED, future pharmacotherapy studies should examine a broader range of subjects, including subjects with subthreshold forms of BED, those with comorbid disorders and elderly subjects.

• Authors: Anna I Guerdjikova, Susan L McElroy
• Journal: European eating disorders review : the journal of the Eating Disorders Association (Eur Eat Disord Rev) Vol. 17 Issue 2 Pg. 101-8 (Mar 2009) ISSN: 1099-0968 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 18683898 (Publication Type: Journal Article)

Chemical References

• Psychotropic Drugs

Topics

• Adolescent
• Adult
• Age Factors
• Aged
• Body Mass Index
• Bulimia Nervosa (diagnosis, drug therapy, epidemiology)
• Comorbidity
• Eligibility Determination (methods, statistics & numerical data)
• Humans
• Middle Aged
• Patient Dropouts (statistics & numerical data)
• Patient Selection
• Psychotropic Drugs (therapeutic use)
• Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic (statistics & numerical data)
• Young Adult