This study compared 70 adults with ADHD to 47 adults without an active psychiatric diagnosis. Everyone was aged 18 to 65. All were recruited from a university psychiatry outpatient clinic. Of the patients, 32 had taken methylphenidate regularly for at least 6 months, and 38 were unmedicated. The groups were similar in age, gender and education. Patients had no other mental health conditions and no physical illness.
Night eating syndrome was much more common in the ADHD group. The authors report it in 37.1% of people with ADHD and 4.2% of controls. People with ADHD also had larger waists, and being a night owl was more common among them. Untreated patients had higher cholesterol and LDL than controls. Treated patients had less night eating than untreated patients. They also had lower blood levels of a peptide called AgRP than controls.
Unhealthy eating attitudes showed up in only 6 people, and all of them had ADHD. Even so, the gap between groups was not large enough to rule out chance.
Among patients, more severe ADHD went along with worse eating attitudes and more night eating. Older age and more night eating symptoms predicted worse eating attitudes. Worse eating attitudes and higher impulsivity predicted night eating.
The study looked at one point in time, so it cannot show cause or which came first. Most data came from self-report scales, and the results may not represent everyone. The authors suggest the findings show that adults with ADHD need treatment.
The numbers Stats and what the terms mean
The statistics behind the plain-language claims above.
- Gürbüzer, 2023: night eating syndrome in patients versus controls (26 of 28 cases in the patient group), p < .001.
- Gürbüzer, 2023: impaired eating attitudes, ADHD versus controls, p = .080.
- Gürbüzer, 2023: waist circumference, patients versus controls, 80.5 ± 12.29 cm vs 77 ± 10.38 cm (p = .030).
- Gürbüzer, 2023: night eating scores, controls (13 ± 5.56) versus treated (19 ± 8.83) and untreated patients (24.50 ± 7.75), both p < .001.
- Gürbüzer, 2023: lower AgRP in treated patients than controls, p1 = .021.
- Gürbüzer, 2023: night eating syndrome in treated versus untreated patients (7 vs 19), p = .015.
- Gürbüzer, 2023: ADHD severity and impaired eating attitudes, r: .458, p < .001.
- Gürbüzer, 2023: ADHD severity and night eating syndrome, r: .348, p = .003.
- Gürbüzer, 2023: eating attitude score and AgRP, r = −.258, p = .031.
- Gürbüzer, 2023: age predicting worse eating attitudes, OR: 1.2, 95% CI [1.063, 1.388].
- Gürbüzer, 2023: night eating score predicting worse eating attitudes, OR: 1.3, 95% CI [1.037, 1.497].
- Gürbüzer, 2023: worse eating attitudes predicting night eating syndrome, OR: 1.1, 95% CI [1.028, 1.211].
- Gürbüzer, 2023: impulsivity score predicting night eating syndrome, OR: 1.1, 95% CI [1.023, 1.156]. What the terms mean:
- p The chance of seeing a result this large if there were really no difference. Below .05 is usually treated as unlikely to be chance.
- ± The spread of scores around the average.
- r How closely two measures move together, from 0 (not at all) to 1 (perfectly). A minus sign means one goes up as the other goes down.
- OR Odds ratio. How much the odds of an outcome rise with each one-unit increase in a factor. Above 1 means higher odds.
- 95% CI The range where the true value likely falls. If it does not include 1 for an odds ratio, the link is unlikely to be chance.
Source: Gürbüzer N, Ceyhun H, Öztürk N, et al.. The Relationship Between Eating-Attitudes and Clinical Characteristics, Agouti-Related Peptide, and Other Biochemical Markers in Adult-Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. Journal of Attention Disorders (2023). doi:10.1177/10870547221149198