Disturbed Eating Attitudes in Obsessive Compulsive Disorder Patients and Its Effect on Quality Of Life

Abstract

Background: Both obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and eating disorders are severe behavioral disorders that have a significant negative social, psychological, and physical influence—the present work is designed to identify the disturbance in eating attitude for better management in the future.Subjects and methods: This comparative case-control study was conducted at the psychiatric department, encompassing both the outpatient clinic and the inpatient ward, located within Zagazig University Hospitals in Sharkia, Egypt. The study involved 80 cases diagnosed with OCD respecting DSM-IV criteria. An evaluation was performed to estimate the quality of life (QoL) and OCD severity among OCD cases, comparing those with and without changes in eating attitudes.Results: There was substantial variance between the groups respecting total EAT-40 scores. There was a statistically remarkable relation between eating attitude and OCD severity, quality-of-life domain score, and total QoL scores. Sexual, doubt, and contamination were significantly associated with high EAT-40 scores. All patients with abnormally high EAT-40 scores had poor QoL versus 50% of those with low scores. Conclusion: Individuals with OCD exhibited significantly lower QoL scores, particularly among those with elevated Disturbed eating attitude scores, highlighting the pervasive impact of OCD symptoms on overall well-being. These findings underscore the importance of comprehensive evaluation and tailored interventions addressing both OCD symptoms and associated Disturbed eating attitudes to improve the QoL of individuals affected by OCD