Eating disorders in adolescence in a Swiss epidemiological study.
OBJECTIVE
This is a study of prevalence rates for anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN) in an epidemiological sample of Swiss adolescents.


METHODS
A two-stage approach was used which involved the screening of a large sample of adolescents aged 14-17 and subsequent interviews of screen-positive and control subjects.


RESULTS
The prevalence rates for adolescent girls were 0.7% for AN and 0.5% for BN.


CONCLUSIONS
Full clinical syndromes of AN and BN in adolescents are by far less frequent than individual symptoms of eating disorders. There is more cross-cultural variation for prevalence rates in BN than in AN.
Steinhausen
H C
HC
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
Winkler
C
C
Meier
M
M
D000293:Adolescent; D017677:Age Distribution; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000453:epidemiology*; D002032:Bulimia / Q000453:epidemiology*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013557:Switzerland / Q000453:epidemiology