Actigraphic analysis of activity levels in obese with binge eating disorder

Abstract

Altered Rest-Activity circadian Rhythm (RAR) are associated with a compromised health status. RAR abnormalities have been assessed in pathological conditions, such as neurological, cancer, and cardiovascular diseases [1]. Binge Eating Disorder (BED), characterized by obesity and motor inactivity, could produce RAR disruption with negative consequences on health- related quality of life. The aim of the present study was to evaluate RAR by actigraphy in obese patients with BED compared to a body mass index-matched control group (Ctrl).

Sixteen participants (8 obese women with and 8 obese women without BED diagnosis) were recruited to perform a 5-day actigraphic monitoring (MotionWatch 8®, CamNtech, Cambridge, UK) to estimate RAR.

The population mean cosinor applied to BED and Ctrl showed the presence of a significant circadian rhythm in both groups (p<0.001). The MESOR (170.0 vs 301.6 a.c., in BED and Ctrl, respectively; p<0.01) and amplitude (157.66 vs 238.19 a.c., in BED and Ctrl, respectively p<0.05) resulted significantly different between the two groups. There were no differences between BED and Ctrl referring to Acrophase. The dysfunctional RAR found in BED cannot be related to obe- sity per se because the participants of the two groups were all obese with similar BMIs (31.3 ± 1.0 vs 31.6 ± 0.7 Kg/m2 in BED and Ctrl, respectively).

These data represented the first actigraphy-based evidence of RAR disruption in women with BED. The circadian approach can represent a novel tool useful in the treatment of patients with eating disorders. The rest-activity circadian parameters should be assessed and managed to enhance interventions able to normalize the spontaneous activity level and improve the qual- ity of life in BED patients.