Prevalence of alcohol use disorder among individuals who binge eat: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Binge eating disorder (BED) is correlated with substance use. This study aimed to estimate the lifetime prevalence of alcohol use disorder (AUD) among individuals with non-compensatory binge eating and determine whether their lifetime prevalence of AUD is higher than in non-bingeing controls. DESIGN A systematic search of databases (PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science) for studies of adults diagnosed with BED or a related behavior that also reported the lifetime prevalence of AUD was conducted. The PRISMA protocol was followed. The protocol was registered on PROSPERO. SETTING Studies originating in Canada, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. PARTICIPANTS 18 studies meeting the inclusion criteria were found, representing 69,233 individuals. MEASUREMENTS Lifetime prevalence of AUD among individuals with binge eating disorder and their lifetime relative risk of AUD compared with individuals without this disorder. FINDINGS The pooled lifetime prevalence of AUD in individuals with binge eating disorder was 19.9% (95% CI 13.7-27.9). The risk of lifetime AUD incidence among individuals with binge eating disorder was over 1.5 times higher than controls (RR 1.59, 95% CI 1.41-1.79). Lifetime AUD prevalence was higher in community samples than in clinical samples (27.45% vs. 14.45%, p = 0.041) and in studies with a lower proportion of women (β = -2.27, p = 0.044). CONCLUSIONS Lifetime alcohol use disorder appears to be more prevalent with binge eating disorder than among those without.