title: An empirical comparison of atypical bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder.
abstract: The International Classification of Diseases, 10th edition (ICD-10) defines atypical bulimia nervosa (ABN) as an eating disorder that encompasses several different syndromes, including the DSM-IV binge eating disorder (BED). We investigated whether patients with BED can be differentiated clinically from patients with ABN who do not meet criteria for BED. Fifty-three obese patients were examined using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV and the ICD-10 criteria for eating disorders. All volunteers completed the Binge Eating Scale (BES), the Beck Depression Inventory, and the Symptom Checklist-90 (SCL-90). Individuals fulfilling criteria for both ABN and BED (N = 18), ABN without BED (N = 16), and obese controls (N = 19) were compared and contrasted. Patients with ABN and BED and patients with ABN without BED displayed similar levels of binge eating severity according to the BES (31.05 +/- 7.7 and 30.05 +/- 5.5, respectively), which were significantly higher than those found in the obese controls (18.32 +/- 8.7; P < 0.001 and P < 0.001, respectively). When compared to patients with ABN and BED, patients with ABN without BED showed increased lifetime rates of agoraphobia (P = 0.02) and increased scores in the somatization (1.97 +/- 0.85 vs 1.02 +/- 0.68; P = 0.001), obsessive-compulsive (2.10 +/- 1.03 vs 1.22 +/- 0.88; P = 0.01), anxiety (1.70 +/- 0.82 vs 1.02 +/- 0.72; P = 0.02), anger (1.41 +/- 1.03 vs 0.59 +/- 0.54; P = 0.005) and psychoticism (1.49 +/- 0.93 vs 0.75 +/- 0.55; P = 0.01) dimensions of the SCL-90. The BED construct may represent a subgroup of ABN with less comorbities and associated symptoms.
authors.affiliation: Grupo de Obesidade e Transtornos Alimentares, Instituto Estadual de Diabetes e Endocrinologia do Rio de Janeiro, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, RJ, Brazil. lfontenelle@gmail.com
authors.forename: L F
authors.initials: LF
authors.lastname: Fontenelle
authors.forename: M V
authors.initials: MV
authors.lastname: Mendlowicz
authors.forename: R O
authors.initials: RO
authors.lastname: Moreira
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Appolinario
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D052018:Bulimia Nervosa / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D015897:Comorbidity; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008875:Middle Aged; D009765:Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012720:Severity of Illness Index