Loss of control as a transdiagnostic feature in obesity‐related eating behaviours: A systematic review

Abstract Objective Emerging evidence suggests that loss of control (LOC) may present as a common feature across disordered eating behaviours. However, there has been limited research on the transdiagnostic nature of LOC in this area. The primary aim of this study was to systematically review disordered eating behaviours and measures of LOC in clinical and non‐clinical populations. Method Electronic searches of the relevant databases were conducted. Selected articles were screened for eligibility and assessed for methodological quality. Results Thirty‐four studies met inclusion criteria. Findings demonstrated that LOC was associated with disordered eating behaviours across bariatric populations, eating disorder populations, and community populations. Specifically, LOC was associated with binge eating (subjective and objective episodes), grazing, night eating, and emotional or stress eating. Findings also revealed that LOC was inconsistently operationalised across studies, with varied approaches to measuring the construct. Conclusion Overall, the findings from this review provide support for LOC as a transdiagnostic feature of disordered eating behaviours. Future studies should utilise robust multi‐method assessments to measure the severity of LOC, which may provide greater insight into how LOC manifests across different eating disorder presentations.

• Publication year

  2022

• Venue

  European eating disorders review

• Publication date

  2022-07-08

• Fields of study

  Medicine, Psychology

• Identifiers
  DOI 10.1002/erv.2936PMID 35801968PMCID 10084033
• External record

  Open on Semantic Scholar

• Source metadata

  Semantic Scholar, PubMed

• No claims are published for this paper.

• No concepts are published for this paper.

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