OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this research was to identify and summarize different modeling approaches used in published economic evaluations (EEs) of adult patients with binge eating disorders (BED).

METHODS: A systematic search was performed using Embase^®, MEDLINE^®, and NHS EED databases to identify EEs assessing adult patients with BED published in English over the last ten years. Citation snowballing and grey literature searches were conducted to gather comprehensive evidence. Predefined extraction forms were used to capture (i) study characteristics (e.g., year of publication, time frame, country), (ii) modeling approaches; (iii) costs, utilities, and benefits; and (iv) discounting.

RESULTS: A total of five studies from six publications were included. Three were journal articles, one health technology assessment report, and one conference abstract. Two studies each were a cost-effectiveness analysis and cost-utility analysis, whereas the remaining one was a budget impact analysis. The analysis was conducted from the healthcare system perspective in two studies, societal in one and both healthcare & societal perspective in another study. Two studies reported a time horizon of 1 and 1.25 years, respectively. These studies justified non-consideration of discounting due to less than two years of time horizon. Two studies reported model structure: one utilized Markov, and the second used decision-tree modeling. The Markov model comprised seven heath states; non-symptomatic BED; BED with sub-threshold BE behavior week(w)1; BED with sub-threshold BE behavior w2; BED with sub-threshold BE behavior w3; BED with mild BE behavior; BED with moderate BE behavior, and BED with severe and extreme BE behavior. The health states reported in the decision tree model were remission; no-remission; relapse; and no-relapse.

CONCLUSIONS: The SLR highlights the scarcity of EEs of health interventions for adult BED and advocates for future research in this area.