Evaluating binge eating disorder in children: development of the children's binge eating disorder scale (C-BEDS).

OBJECTIVE

Binge eating disorder (BED) may manifest itself differently in children than adults. Recently researchers have proposed provisional criteria for measuring BED in children. The purpose of this study was to develop a brief, simple, structured, interviewer-administered scale (C-BEDS) to measure BED in children according to the provisional criteria and to compare diagnostic results with SCID diagnoses.

METHOD: A total of 55 children between the ages of 5 and 13 were interviewed with both the SCID and the C-BEDS.

RESULTS

There was a significant association between the two measures (p = .001). Both measures adequately identified children with binge eating behaviors.

CONCLUSION

Both the provisional criteria and the C-BEDS may be developmentally appropriate for use with children, although the C-BEDS may be a better screening instrument as it quickly identified children with subsyndromal BED. If used by physicians and other health providers, this brief measure may assist with identifying early onset binge eating behaviors and avoiding the associated consequences, including adult BED, obesity, and other comorbidities.