title: General practice consultation patterns preceding diagnosis of eating disorders.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To see whether patients with eating disorders consult general practitioners more frequently than control subjects and, if so, to describe the pattern of consultation.
  
  
  METHODS
  General practitioner case record review of patients with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and partial syndromes referred to a specialist eating disorder service.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Seventy-eight of 100 case records were available for analysis. Eating disorder patients consulted significantly more frequently than controls over 5 years prior to the diagnosis of the eating disorder. They presented to the general practitioners with a variety of symptoms including psychological, gastrointestinal, and gynecological complaints.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings suggest that methods could be developed to enable earlier diagnosis of eating disorders in general practice. This will enable the earlier application of effective treatments with the prospect of improved outcome.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Larkfield Resource Centre, Lenzie, Glasgow.
authors.forename: E C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Ogg
authors.forename: H R
authors.initials: HR
authors.lastname: Millar
authors.forename: E E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Pusztai
authors.forename: A S
authors.initials: AS
authors.lastname: Thom
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D002032:Bulimia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005194:Family Practice / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D010342:Patient Acceptance of Health Care / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012606:Scotland / Q000453:epidemiology; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology; D016896:Treatment Outcome