P. Cotrufo - Vol. 5 Settembre 1999, n.3
Testo Immagini Bibliografia Summary Riassunto Indice
Il disturbo da alimentazione incontrollata:
dati epidemiologici e caratterizzazione clinica
Binge eating disorder: epidemiological
data and clinical characterisation
Background and aims: binge eating disorder (BED) was introduced in psychiatric nosology through the DSM-III; diagnostic criteria are the same with those of bulimia nervosa, non-purging type, except coping strategies aimed at blocking increase and self-esteem linked to external aspect and body weight. Its incidence is higher than that of anorexia nervosa. In Italy, epidemiological data on DSM-IV BED are not available, hence we aimed at assessing the point prevalence of BED in a female high school student population, since eating disorders in males represent less than 95% of the overall eating disorder incidence.
Subjects and Methods: we screened a sample of 919 high school female students in Naples, Italy, by means of the administration of the Eating Disorder Inventory-2 (EDI 2) and the 28-item General Health Questionnaire (GHQ 28). Those students identified at risk for an eating disorder underwent also a semi-structured interview.
Results: suprathreshold scores on the EDI 2 were obtained by 30.57% of our female sample. Two subjects refused to participate to further research and 13 were unavailable during interviews; hence, 28.94% of subjects underwent the semi-strucutred interview. Point prevalence of DSM-IV BED was 0.22%, the same as with anorexia nervosa, whereas overall bulimia nervosa was 2.29% (10-fold with respect to the other two eating disorders).
Conclusions: psychological profile analysis suggests that BED should be regarded as a separate condition, different from other eating disorders and its epidemiological features should be further investigated. Moreover, inclusion of BED in diagnostic manuals is warranted.