Behavioral and Neuroendocrine Characteristics of the Night-Eating Syndrome

CONTEXT Investigators first described the night-eating syndrome (NES), which consists of morning anorexia, evening hyperphagia, and insomnia, in 1955, but, to our knowledge, this syndrome has never been subjected to careful clinical study. OBJECTIVE To characterize NES on the basis of behavioral cha...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:JAMA : the journal of the American Medical Association 1999-08, Vol.282 (7), p.657-663
Main Authors: Birketvedt, Grethe Støa, Florholmen, Jon, Sundsfjord, Johan, Østerud, Bjarne, Dinges, David, Bilker, Warren, Stunkard, Albert
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Adult
Anorexia - physiopathology
Biological and medical sciences
Circadian Rhythm - physiology
Feeding and Eating Disorders - physiopathology
Feeding Behavior - physiology
Female
Humans
Hydrocortisone - blood
Hyperphagia - physiopathology
Leptin
Male
Medical sciences
Melatonin - blood
Metabolic diseases
Neurosecretory Systems - physiology
Obesity
Poisson Distribution
Proteins - metabolism
Regression Analysis
Sleep Initiation and Maintenance Disorders - physiopathology
Statistics, Nonparametric
Syndrome
Citations: Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:CONTEXT Investigators first described the night-eating syndrome (NES), which consists of morning anorexia, evening hyperphagia, and insomnia, in 1955, but, to our knowledge, this syndrome has never been subjected to careful clinical study. OBJECTIVE To characterize NES on the basis of behavioral characteristics and neuroendocrine data. DESIGN AND SETTING A behavioral observational study was conducted between January 1996 and June 1997 in a weight and eating disorders program at the University of Pennsylvania. A neuroendocrine study was conducted from May through August 1997 at the Clinical Research Center of the University Hospital, Tromsö, Norway. SUBJECTS The behavioral study included 10 obese subjects who met criteria for NES and 10 matched control subjects. The neuroendocrine study included 12 night eaters and 21 control subjects. Behavioral study subjects were observed for 1 week on an outpatient basis, and neuroendocrine study subjects were observed during a 24-hour period in the hospital. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES The behavioral study measured timing of energy intake, mood level, and sleep disturbances. The neuroendocrine study measured circadian levels of plasma melatonin, leptin, and cortisol. RESULTS In the behavioral study, compared with control subjects, night eaters had more eating episodes in the 24 hours (mean [SD], 9.3 [0.6] vs 4.2 [0.2]; P
ISSN:0098-7484
1538-3598
DOI:10.1001/jama.282.7.657