Weight suppression as a predictor variable in treatment trials of bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to examine weight suppression (WS) as a predictor of treatment outcome among individuals with binge eating disorder (BED) and bulimia nervosa (BN).

METHOD: Participants were diagnosed with BED or BN and took part in separate treatment studies. The current study examined WS as a predictor of treatment completion, weight change during treatment, and symptomatic abstinence, as well as percent reduction in binge eating and purging frequency.

RESULTS: WS did not significantly predict treatment completion or treatment outcome in either group.

DISCUSSION: Contrary to some previous findings, these results failed to demonstrate that WS was predictive of outcome at the end of treatment in BN. In addition, WS was not predictive of treatment outcome or dropout status in BED.