Qualitative Analysis of Hyperphagia in BBS

According to the European Journal of Endocrinology abstract deposited on 18 August 2026, expert-led interviews classified far more adults with Bardet-Biedl Syndrome as having severe hyperphagia than a 14-item self-report questionnaire.

• Sample: Mossman et al., 2026 analysed 39 adult patients with BBS and obesity in a non-interventional cross-sectional study deposited 18 August 2026.
• Interview result: Mossman et al., 2026 reported that 9 of 13 interviewed participants (69%) were rated as having severe hyperphagia in August 2026.
• Questionnaire discordance: Mossman et al., 2026 found only 8% of the full sample were classified as severe by questionnaire in 2026, and 92% (12/13) of interviewed patients were assigned a higher severity level via interviews than by questionnaire.
• Conclusion: Mossman et al., 2026 explicitly state there is "substantial underreporting with self-reported questionnaires, " supporting the addition of expert-led interviews to better capture true burden.

What happened: Mossman et al., 2026 conducted a mixed-methods cross-sectional sub-analysis to assess hyperphagia severity in adults with Bardet-Biedl Syndrome in the United Kingdom.

Mossman et al., 2026 enrolled 39 adults with BBS and obesity, excluding patients with BMI <30 kg/m2 or prior/current setmelanotide treatment, and deposited the abstract on 18 August 2026.

Mossman et al., 2026 used a 14-item hyperphagia questionnaire for all 39 participants and conducted semi-structured follow-up interviews with a subset of 13 participants to provide contextualised assessment.

Mossman et al., 2026 report that interview transcripts were systematically coded by a qualitative researcher and jointly reviewed with a BBS clinical expert to assign severity ratings, a method intended to address known limitations of self-report in this population.

Definition quoted in the study: Mossman et al., 2026 describe hyperphagia as an "insatiable feeling of hunger, persistent food-seeking behaviours and abnormal food intake, " and they used interviews to capture behavioural and social context not present in questionnaire responses.

Implications for qualitative researchers: Mossman et al., 2026 show that integrating expert-led interviews with questionnaires materially changes severity estimates and should inform study design in BBS and similar conditions.

Mossman et al., 2026 demonstrate three operational decisions researchers should consider: recruit for an interview subsample to validate self-reports, code interviews with clinical expert input to assign clinically meaningful severity labels, and explicitly adjust prevalence estimates when relying solely on questionnaires.

Mossman et al., 2026 also identify practical constraints: cognitive differences, stigma, and the disability paradox can depress self-report scores, so qualitative context is essential for accurate measurement.

Mossman et al., 2026 provide concrete evidence that expert-led interviews reveal substantially more severe hyperphagia in adults with Bardet-Biedl Syndrome than questionnaires alone.

Researchers designing studies of eating behaviour should plan for mixed-methods validation and document discordance with clear numbers, as Mossman et al., 2026 did with 39 participants and a 13-person interview subset.

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