A comparison of subgroups of inpatients with anorexia nervosa.
OBJECTIVE
Classification of subgroups of people with anorexia nervosa has been in flux. It has not been clear whether anorexics who only purge should be grouped with pure restricters or with people who both binge and purge.


METHODS
We compared 27 restricting-type anorexics (RAN), 26 bulimic anorexics (BAN), and 34 restricting anorexics with purging behaviors (RAN-P). All subjects were underweight and recently admitted to a hospital. We excluded subjects who had not had a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa for at least 1 year duration.


RESULTS
The three groups of subjects had similar scores for Depression and Anxiety on the Beck Depression Inventory, the Spielberger State and Trait Anxiety Inventory, and on the EDI subscales aside from higher scores for BAN subjects on the Bulimia subscale.


CONCLUSIONS
These three subgroups of anorexia nervosa have similar degrees of dysphoric moods and core eating disorder symptoms when underweight and malnourished.
Nagata
T
T
Department of Neuropsychiatry, Osaka City University Medical School, Japan.
McConaha
C
C
Rao
R
R
Sokol
M S
MS
Kaye
W H
WH
D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D002032:Bulimia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014839:Vomiting