The EAT-26 as screening instrument for clinical nutrition unit attenders.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to use the Eating Attitudes Test-26 (EAT-26) as a screening instrument on a specific population with a marked prevalence of binge eating disorder (BED) and eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS). The EAT-26 questionnaire was used in order to identify the high-risk subjects for referral to clinical evaluation. METHOD: EAT-26 was administered to 845 subjects who, for the first time, came to the Nutritional Medicine Service looking for a diet between January 1999 and December 2002. From this initial sample, subsequently, 250 subjects were randomly selected and administered a semistructured clinical interview for DSM-IV (SCID I, version 2.0). RESULTS: Discriminant analysis provided a cutoff value of EAT-26=11. Logistic regression analysis indicated high Dieting (D) or Bulimia (B) subscale scores as a risk factor of EDNOS or bulimia nervosa (BN) cases, respectively; on the other hand, a high Oral Control (O) subscale score represented a protecting factor for BED cases. CONCLUSION: Our study tried to assess the usefulness of EAT-26 as a screening instrument for obese patients attending a Medical Nutritional Service. Results from this study suggest that a cutoff score of 11, lower than that indicated in the literature, improves the diagnostic accuracy of the EAT-26 in a high-risk setting regarding sensibility level (68.1%) and leading to a reduction of the false negative rate (31.9%).

Alertness and incidence of seizures in patients with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome.

Sixteen subjects affected by Lennox-Gastaut syndrome (11 males and five females, ranging from 5 to 15 years of age [mean age, 9 years 11 months]) were followed for periods of 9 months to 5 years 9 months, and were studied during three to five prolonged hospitalizations for total periods of 2-9 months with a veiw to examining the distribution of epileptic seizures during four states of vigilance, evaluated from a behavioral point of view: sleep, drowsiness, inactive wakefulness, and active wakefulness. it was ascertained that the overall average of 406 seizures daily, directly observed, was distributed as follows: 26 (6.40%) during sleep; 128 (31.52%) during drowsiness; 219 (53.94%) during inactive wakefulness; and 33 (8.12%) during active wakefulness. The comparison between the incidence of seizures observed during active wakefulness and those observed during both drowsiness and inactive wakefulness was significant (p less than 0.001). The latter two states represent, in our study, the shortest period of the day (8 h as compared with the 16 h of sleep and active wakefulness), thus making the results of the comparison even more significant. The results of this study suggest the importance of a stimulating environment for children affected by Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, and they point out that an overdose of antiepileptic drugs, not uncommon in the treatment of this syndrome, may make seizures more frequent.