Differential diagnoses to consider at an eating disorders clinic.
OBJECTIVE
To determine the reasons for referral of patients without eating disorders who were within a cohort of patients referred to an adult tertiary care eating disorders program.


METHODS
Cases were obtained by retrospectively reviewing all the charts of patients who had been referred to a single eating disorders program over a 20-year period from 1981 to 2000. All referred cases had been screened by a nurse using a telephone or written questionnaire.


RESULTS
Thirty-three out of 987 patients (3.3%) were identified as having no eating disorders. Four subjects were males (12.1%) and 29 were females (87.9%). After investigation, 16 were found to have a psychiatric diagnosis, 8 had a medical diagnosis, and 8 had no identifiable diagnosis.


CONCLUSIONS
This study shows that the screening process for referral to a tertiary care eating disorders program is highly reliable and suspicion for a patient without an eating disorder should be low; in comparison with the eating disorder population, these patients are more likely to be male and psychiatric illnesses are twice more likely than medical disorders to be diagnosed.
Su
J C
JC
University of British Columbia, Canada.
Birmingham
C L
CL
D000328:Adult; D001955:British Columbia; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D003951:Diagnostic Errors / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis*; D005260:Female; D005767:Gastrointestinal Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D001523:Mental Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis; D012017:Referral and Consultation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013959:Thyroid Diseases / Q000175:diagnosis