INTRODUCTION
Social isolation can affect people’s routines and mental health. The effects can be felt through the manifestation of anxiety, depression, or even binge eating. Studies on impacts on mental health due to the pandemic of the new coronavirus are still scarce, as it is a recent phenomenon, but point to important negative repercussions [1].
Gordilho (2020), explains that binge eating may have its cause in an anxiety situation, especially during a quarantine. During this period, some degree of anxiety may develop in the face of uncertainties, fear, and distance from family and friends [1].
A similar situation occurred in 2003, during the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus –SARS epidemic, another type of coronavirus, when the psychological impacts of the disease were greater than the medical impacts, in terms of the number of people affected and how long they were affected [3].
The rapid spread of the new coronavirus throughout the world, the uncertainties about how to control the disease, the seriousness of it, as well as the unpredictability about the duration of the pandemic and its consequences, are characterized as risk factors for the mental health of the population. general population [4]. This scenario also seems to be aggravated by the dissemination of video clips and alarming messages about COVID-19 through smartphones and computers, often causing panic [5]. Likewise, false news has been shared at times contrary to the guidelines of health authorities and minimizing the effects of the disease [6,7].
In a literature review on quarantine, Brooks et al. (2020) [8] identified that the negative effects of this measure include symptoms of post-traumatic stress, confusion, and anger. Concerns about the scarcity of supplies and financial losses also cause damage to psychological well-being [9]. Symptoms of depression, anxiety, and stress in the face of the pandemic have been identified in the general population [10].
During quarantine, the reduced possibility of exercising increases the fear of weight gain, and the storage of non-perishable foods leads to massive exposure to crackers, snacks, frozen dishes, soft drinks, and the like. Still, the reduction of the relationship with other people or, in the opposite direction, greater tension in the face of occasional social encounters, are factors that cause some anxiety, being potential triggers for episodes of binge eating [11].
Compulsion is usually the result of a combination of factors, including genetic, emotional characteristics related to life experiences. Binge eating or Periodic Eating Compulsion Disorder (BED) is an eating disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of binge eating, where large amounts of food are eaten quickly until you feel discomfort, even when not hungry, accompanied by a feeling of a total loss of control. The person suffering from binge eating experiences shame, anguish, or guilt after the binge episode [12]. Binge eating occurs, on average, at least once a week for a minimum period of 3 months. Binge eating is not related to the repetition of inappropriate compensatory behaviors (eg, vomiting) as in the case of bulimia.
One of the most common reasons for binge eating is an attempt to manage unpleasant emotions, such as stress, depression, loneliness, fear, and anxiety. But the function of food is to nourish the organism and when used to fill an emotional gap, it is effective only temporarily, as emptiness always comes back together with the feeling of guilt since food works as an immediate emotional reward mechanism [13].
Thus, it is possible to see the relationship between anxiety and Periodic Eating Compulsion Disorder, intensified during quarantine, in a pandemic scenario, which requires social isolation. Therefore, the present observational and cross-sectional study analyzed the relationship between anxiety and binge eating during the quarantine of COVID-19.