Functional gastrointestinal disorders and eating disorders: Relevance of the association in clinical management

Background: As functional gastrointestinal disorders (FGID) are common in eating disorder patients, we aimed to assess past eating disorders in patients referred for current FGID. Methods: One hundred and twenty-seven consecutive FGID outpatients and 163 patients with gallstone disease (GD) were enrolled. All patients were interviewed to detect GI symptoms (by means of the GI Symptom Rating Scale), lifetime eating disorders (on the basis of DSM-IV criteria), and current psychologic distress (on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale). Results: Past eating disorders were significantly more prevalent in FGID (15.7%) than in GD patients (3.1%) (chi-square = 14.6, P < 0.001). FGID patients with past eating disorders were significantly younger, more educated, more psychologically distressed, more dyspeptic, and more were women than FGID patients without past eating disorders. Conclusions: This study confirms the previously found association between functional GI symptoms and eating disorders and shows that functional GI symptoms may still persist even after the recovery from eating disorders, particularly in psychologically distressed patients.