standardization of the binge eating scale among iranian obese population

objective: the purpose of this study was to adopt the binge eating scale (bes) among the iranian obese population.
methods: bes and a semi-structured interview based on dsm-iv criteria for binge eating disorder were administered among 60 obese subjects aged 20 to 50 years. in order to evaluate test-retest reliability, 30 obese subjects were asked to complete the bes again 9 to 20 days later. in addition, to assess the discriminate validity, 60 normal-weight control subjects were asked to complete the bes. the obese and the normal weight control group were matched for age and sex .
results: the persian version of the bes showed a sensitivity of 84.6% and specificity of 80.8% in identification of binge eating disorder. the test-retest reliability and internal consistency of bes were 0.71 and 0.85 respectively. the bes effectively discriminated obese persons from the normal weight subjects.
conclusion: these findings suggest that the persian version of bes is a valid instrument for screening binge eating disorder in the iranian obese population.