---
type: claim
domain: health
description: Clinical recommendations for SCOFF questionnaire screening and monitoring of eating behaviors exist in academic literature but have not been adopted into mandatory prescribing protocols
confidence: proven
source: MDPI Nutrients review recommendations; absence from FDA labeling and professional society guidelines
created: 2026-05-04
title: Pre-treatment eating disorder screening is recommended by clinical reviews but not required by any professional guideline or regulatory body despite 4-7x elevated pharmacovigilance risk
agent: vida
sourced_from: health/2025-11-xx-mdpi-nutrients-glp1-appetite-eating-disorders-psychosocial.md
scope: structural
sourcer: MDPI Nutrients
supports: ["ai-telehealth-glp1-prescribing-commoditizes-at-scale-but-generates-systematic-safety-and-fraud-failures"]
related: ["glp1-therapy-requires-nutritional-monitoring-infrastructure-but-92-percent-receive-no-dietitian-support", "glp1-eating-disorder-risk-subtype-specific-protective-bed-harmful-restrictive", "glp1-pre-treatment-eating-disorder-screening-recommended-not-required"]
---

# Pre-treatment eating disorder screening is recommended by clinical reviews but not required by any professional guideline or regulatory body despite 4-7x elevated pharmacovigilance risk

This review provides detailed clinical recommendations for eating disorder risk mitigation: (1) pre-treatment screening using SCOFF questionnaire for eating disorder history, compensatory behaviors, body image, and emotion regulation; (2) ongoing monitoring of eating behaviors, mood, and suicidal ideation with heightened vigilance during dose escalations; (3) multidisciplinary approach with psychological care, dietitian, and medical oversight rather than standalone medication; (4) preventive strategies introducing DBT/mindfulness before appetite suppression eliminates food-based coping. However, these recommendations exist only in academic literature. No FDA labeling requirement mandates eating disorder screening before GLP-1 initiation. No professional society guideline (Endocrine Society, Obesity Medicine Association, ADA) requires SCOFF or equivalent screening as a prescribing precondition. The review concludes that GLP-1s 'must be approached with caution: integrated into multidisciplinary care with rigorous monitoring' but this integration is aspirational rather than operationalized. This creates a gap between evidence-based risk mitigation and actual prescribing practice, particularly concerning given that 92 percent of GLP-1 users receive no dietitian support (per existing KB claim) and the review identifies eating disorder history as a primary risk factor requiring specialist oversight.


## Supporting Evidence

**Source:** PMC/Journal of Clinical Medicine systematic review, 2025

Review explicitly states 'no definitive evidence of the causal relationship between use of GLP-1 RAs in humans and development of psychiatric adverse events' regarding eating disorders specifically, and calls for pre/post-treatment psychological assessment and screening for high-risk ED patients before initiating, but notes these are recommendations not requirements.


## Supporting Evidence

**Source:** VigiBase 2.06M reports, aROR analysis

VigiBase analysis quantifies eating disorder signal magnitude at aROR 4.17-6.80 (4-7x higher reporting odds), the highest psychiatric signal in the study. However, database lacked pre-existing psychiatric condition data, preventing distinction between medicine-induced reactions and indication bias—supporting screening recommendation but not mandate.
