TOPLINE:

Hoarding disorder symptoms are highly prevalent in adults with a variety of eating disorders (EDs), a new multicountry systematic review and meta-analysis showed. Investigators said this is the first study to assess pooled lifetime prevalence of hoarding disorder symptoms in this patient population.

METHODOLOGY:

• Investigators conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of five studies identified from four databases.
• A risk bias tool was used to measure the quality of the included studies.
• The EDs examined included bulimia nervosa, anorexia nervosa, and binge ED, among others.
• Countries included in at least one of the studies were the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, Brazil, Italy, Sweden, and Australia.

TAKEAWAY:

• The included studies showed low heterogeneity among themselves and a low risk for bias.
• The lifetime prevalence of hoarding disorder symptoms in participants with EDs was 24% (95% CI, 0.23-0.25) compared with the 2.5% prevalence of hoarding in the general population, as shown in previous research.
• The included studies showed low heterogeneity among themselves (12%) and a low risk for bias (scores, 0-3).

IN PRACTICE:

“Clinicians should consider screening for comorbid hoarding disorder when assessing for eating disorders,” the investigators of the study wrote, adding that more research is also needed to examine the co-occurrence of both disorders.

SOURCE:

The study was led by Brad A. MacNeil, PhD, College of Health Sciences, Midwestern University, Glendale, Arizona. It was published online on January 29 in the Journal of Psychiatric Research.

LIMITATIONS:

The lifetime prevalence rate may have been influenced by differences in assessment measures and diagnostic classification systems across studies. The small number of studies included in the meta-analysis limited the generalizability of the findings and prevented analyses of gender differences or prevalence rates across different ED categories.

DISCLOSURES:

The study did not receive any funding. The investigators reported having no relevant conflicts of interest.

This article was created using several editorial tools, including AI, as part of the process. Human editors reviewed this content before publication.