Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T14:45:57.021Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Binge eating disorder: a symptom-level investigation of genetic and environmental influences on liability

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2010

K. S. Mitchell ,
M. C. Neale ,
C. M. Bulik ,
S. H. Aggen ,
K. S. Kendler  and
S. E. Mazzeo
K. S. Mitchell
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA Virginia Institute for Psychiatric & Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
M. C. Neale
Affiliation:
Virginia Institute for Psychiatric & Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA Department of Human Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
C. M. Bulik
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychiatry and Nutrition, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC, USA
S. H. Aggen
Affiliation:
Virginia Institute for Psychiatric & Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
K. S. Kendler
Affiliation:
Virginia Institute for Psychiatric & Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
S. E. Mazzeo*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA Virginia Institute for Psychiatric & Behavioral Genetics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA Department of Pediatrics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA, USA
*
*Address for correspondence to: Dr S. E. Mazzeo, Department of Psychology, Virginia Commonwealth University, PO Box 842018, Richmond, VA 23284-2018. (Email: [email protected])
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Background

Recent behavioral genetic studies have emphasized the importance of investigating eating disorders at the level of individual symptoms, rather than as overall diagnoses. We examined the heritability of binge eating disorder (BED) using an item-factor analytic approach, which estimates contributions of additive genetic (A), common environmental (C), and unique environmental (E) influences on liability to BED as well as individual symptoms.

Method

Participants were 614 monozygotic and 410 dizygotic same-sex female twins from the Mid-Atlantic Twin Registry who completed a self-report measure of BED symptoms based upon DSM-IV criteria. Genetic and environmental contributions to BED liability were assessed at the diagnostic and symptom levels, using an item-factor approach.

Results

Liability to BED was moderately heritable; 45% of the variance was due to A, with smaller proportions due to C (13%), and E (42%). Additive genetic effects accounted for 29–43% of the variance in individual items, while only 8–14% was due to C.

Conclusions

Results highlight the relevance of examining eating disorders at the symptom level, rather than focusing on aggregate diagnoses.

Keywords

Binge eating disorderheritabilityitem-factor modeltwins.
Type
Original Articles
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 40 , Issue 11 , November 2010 , pp. 1899 - 1906
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

APA (2000). Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (4th edn, text-revision). American Psychiatric Association: Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Bulik, CM, Brownley, KA, Shapiro, JR (2007). Diagnosis and management of binge eating disorder. World Psychiatry 6, 142–148.Google Scholar
Bulik, CM, Sullivan, PF, Kendler, KS (1998). Heritability of binge-eating and broadly defined bulimia nervosa. Biological Psychiatry 44, 1210–1218.Google Scholar
Bulik, CM, Sullivan, PF, Wade, TD, Kendler, KS (2000). Twin studies of eating disorders: a review. International Journal of Eating Disorders 27, 1–20.3.0.CO;2-Q>CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crocker, L, Algina, J (1986). Introduction to Classical and Modern Test Theory. Wadsworth Group: Belmont, CA.Google Scholar
First, MB, Spitzer, RL, Gibbon, M, Williams, JBW (1997). Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Axis I Disorders (SCID-I), Clinician Version. American Psychiatric Press: Washington, DC.Google Scholar
Grilo, CM, Masheb, RM, Wilson, GT (2001). A comparison of different methods for assessing the features of eating disorders in patients with binge eating disorder. Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology 69, 317–322.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Javaras, KN, Laird, NM, Reichborn-Kjennerud, T, Bulik, CM, Pope, HG, Hudson, JI (2008). Familiality and heritability of binge eating disorder: results of a case-control family study and a twin study. International Journal of Eating Disorders 41, 174–179.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keller, MC, Medland, SE, Duncan, LE, Hatemi, PK, Neale, MC, Maes, HHM, Eaves, LJ (2008). Modeling extended twin family data I: description of the cascade model. Twin Research and Human Genetics 12, 8–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendler, K, Prescott, C (1999). A population-based twin study of lifetime major depression in men and women. Archives of General Psychiatry 56, 39–44.Google Scholar
Latner, JD, Clyne, C (2008). The diagnostic validity of the criteria for binge eating disorder. International Journal of Eating Disorders 41, 1–14.Google Scholar
Lykken, DT, McGue, M, Tellegen, A (1987). Recruitment bias in twin research: the rule of two-thirds reconsidered. Behavior Genetics 17, 343–362.Google Scholar
Mazzeo, SE, Landt-Slof, MCTO, Jones, I, Mitchell, KS, Kendler, KS, Neale, MC, Aggen, SH, Bulik, CM (2006). Associations among post-partum depression, eating disorders and perfectionism in a population-based sample of adult women. International Journal of Eating Disorders 39, 202–211.Google Scholar
Mazzeo, SE, Mitchell, KS, Bulik, CM, Aggen, S, Kendler, KS, Neale, MC (in press). A twin study of specific bulimia nervosa symptoms. Psychological Medicine.Google Scholar
Mazzeo, SE, Mitchell, KS, Bulik, CM, Reichborn-Kjennerud, T, Kendler, KS, Neale, MC (2009). Assessing the heritability of anorexia nervosa symptoms using a marginal maximal likelihood approach. Psychological Medicine 39, 463–473.Google Scholar
Neale, MC, Boker, S, Xie, G, Maes, H (2003). Mx: Statistical Modeling, 6th edn. Richmond, VA; Department of Psychiatry, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, VA.Google Scholar
Neale, MC, Aggen, SH, Maes, HH, Kubarych, TS, Schmitt, JE (2006 a). Methodological issues in the assessment of substance use phenotypes. Addictive Behaviors 31, 1010–1034.Google Scholar
Neale, MC, Harvey, E, Maes, H, Sullivan, PF, Kendler, KS (2006 b). Extensions to the modeling of initiation and progression: applications to substance use and abuse. Behavior Genetics 36, 507–524.Google Scholar
Neale, MC, Lubke, G, Aggen, SH, Dolan, CV (2005). Problems with using sum scores for estimating variance components: contamination and measurement noninvariance. Twin Research and Human Genetics 8, 553–568.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pike, KM, Wilfley, D, Hilbert, A, Fairburn, CG, Dohm, FA, Striegel-Moore, R (2006). Antecedent life events of binge-eating disorder. Psychiatry Research 142, 19–29.Google Scholar
Plomin, R, DeFries, JC, McClearn, GE, McGuffin, P (2008). Behavioral Genetics. New York, NY: Worth Publishers.Google Scholar
Reichborn-Kjennerud, T, Bulik, CM, Tambs, K, Harris, JR (2004). Genetic and environmental influences on binge eating in the absence of compensatory behaviors: a population-based twin study. International Journal of Eating Disorders 36, 307–314.Google Scholar
Reichborn-Kjennerud, T, Bulik, CM, Kendler, KS, Roysamb, E, Maes, H, Tambs, K, Harris, JR (2003). Gender differences in binge-eating: a population-based twin study. Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica 108, 196–202.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Striegel-Moore, RH, Bulik, CM (2007). Risk factors for eating disorders. American Psychologist 62, 181–198.Google Scholar
Striegel-Moore, RH, Franko, DL (2008). Should binge eating disorder be included in the DSM-V? A critical review of the state of the evidence. Annual Review of Clinical Psychology 4, 305–324.Google Scholar
Striegel-Moore, RH, Kearney-Cooke, A (1994). Exploring parents' attitudes and behaviors about their children's physical appearance. International Journal of Eating Disorders 15, 377–85.Google Scholar
Sullivan, PF, Eaves, LJ (2002). Evaluation of analyses of univariate discrete twin data. Behavior Genetics 32, 221–227.Google Scholar
Van den Berg, SM, Glas, CAW, Boomsma, DI (2007). Variance decomposition using an IRT measurement model. Behavior Genetics 37, 604–616.Google Scholar
Wade, TD, Bergin, JL, Martin, NG, Gillespie, NA, Fairburn, CG (2006). A transdiagnostic approach to understanding eating disorders. Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease 194, 510–517.Google Scholar