Adolescents with bulimia nervosa and eating disorder not otherwise specified-purging only.
OBJECTIVE
The purpose of the study was to better understand the phenomenology of bulimic symptomatology in an adolescent clinic sample.


METHODS
Adolescents with bulimia nervosa (BN; n = 36) and eating disorders not otherwise specified-purging but no objective bulimic episodes (EDNOS-P; n = 20) were compared on the Eating Disorder Examination (EDE), the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), the Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale (RSES), and the Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia for School-Age Children (K-SADS).


RESULTS
Subjects with EDNOS-P and BN were equivalent in terms of age and weight, but were less likely to have intact families. Nearly one half of EDNOS-P subjects purged exclusively outside of eating episodes in which they experienced a sense of loss of control. Although still at clinically significant levels, EDNOS-P subjects reported less concerns regarding weight, shape, and eating relative to BN. Groups were not significantly different on psychiatric comorbidity, but differed on self-esteem.


CONCLUSIONS
Results prompt reappraisal of current criteria of BN to encompass those who purge without binge eating.
Binford
Roslyn B
RB
Eating Disorders Program, Department of Psychiatry, Section of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, The University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois 60637, USA. rbinford@yoda.bsd.uchicago.edu
le Grange
Daniel
D
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D052018:Bulimia Nervosa / Q000145:classification / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D002641:Chicago; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000145:classification / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans