Personality subtyping and bulimia nervosa: psychopathological and genetic correlates.
BACKGROUND
There is empirical evidence suggesting that individuals with bulimia nervosa vary considerably in terms of psychiatric co-morbidity and personality functioning. In this study, latent profile analysis was used to attempt to identify clusters of bulimic subjects based on psychiatric co-morbidity and personality.


METHODS
A total of 178 women with bulimia nervosa or a subclinical variant of bulimia nervosa completed a series of self-report inventories of co-morbid psychopathology and personality, and also provided a buccal smear sample for genetic analyses.


RESULTS
Three clusters of bulimic women were identified: an affective-perfectionistic cluster, an impulsive cluster, and a low co-morbid psychopathology cluster. The clusters showed expected differences on external validation tests with both personality and eating-disorder measures. The impulsive cluster showed the highest elevations on dissocial behavior and the lowest scores on compulsivity, while the affective-perfectionistic cluster showed the highest levels of eating-disorder symptoms. The clusters did not differ on genetic variations of the serotonin transporter gene.


CONCLUSIONS
This study corroborates previous findings suggesting that the bulimia nervosa diagnostic category is comprised of three classes of individuals based on co-morbid psychopathology and personality. These differences may have significant etiological and treatment implications.
Wonderlich
Stephen A
SA
University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Department of Neurosciences, Neuropsychiatric Research Institute, ND 58102, USA. stephenw@medicine.nodak.edu
Crosby
Ross D
RD
Joiner
Thomas
T
Peterson
Carol B
CB
Bardone-Cone
Anna
A
Klein
Marjorie
M
Crow
Scott
S
Mitchell
James E
JE
Le Grange
Daniel
D
Steiger
Howard
H
Kolden
Greg
G
Johnson
Frank
F
Vrshek
Suzanne
S
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics; D002032:Bulimia / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics*; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D015897:Comorbidity; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D007174:Disruptive, Impulse Control, and Conduct Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000379:methods; D008875:Middle Aged; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires