Relationship of sex to symptom severity, psychiatric comorbidity, and health care utilization in 163 subjects with borderline personality disorder.
OBJECTIVE
The objective of the study was to compare symptom severity, frequency, and pattern of psychiatric comorbidity, quality of life, and health care utilization in men and women with borderline personality disorder (BPD).


METHODS
The analysis is based on a sample of 163 subjects with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition BPD recruited for participation in a clinical trial at an academic medical center. Subjects were administered structured interviews and questionnaires of known reliability.


RESULTS
Men (n = 25) and women (n = 138) with BPD were compared across multiple domains. Men were significantly older than women (34.5 vs 30.4 years), but subjects were otherwise similar in their demographic characteristics. Overall syndrome severity and frequency of past suicide attempts and self-harm behaviors were also similar. Women were more likely than men to have an anxiety disorder (particularly generalized anxiety disorder), somatoform disorders, and histrionic personality disorder. Antisocial personality disorder was more common in men. Women had higher dimensional ratings of depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsiveness, work dysfunction, and negative affectivity; they were also more likely to endorse the "paranoia/dissociation" BPD criterion. On the Short Form-36 Health Survey, women reported significantly worse emotional role, social role, and mental health functioning than men. Contrary to expectation, there were no significant cross sex differences in the use of health care resources.


CONCLUSIONS
Men and women with BPD show important differences in their pattern of psychiatric comorbidity, dimensional symptom ratings, and in quality of life variables. Women have more negative views of themselves, and worse overall emotional and social role functioning. Implications for clinicians and researchers are discussed.
McCormick
Brett
B
Department of Psychiatry, University of Iowa Roy J and Lucille A Carver College of Medicine, Iowa City, IA 52242, USA.
Blum
Nancee
N
Hansel
Rebecca
R
Franklin
Jo Ann
JA
St John
Don
D
Pfohl
Bruce
B
Allen
Jeff
J
Black
Donald W
DW
D000328:Adult; D001883:Borderline Personality Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D002391:Catchment Area, Health; D003072:Cognition Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000503:physiopathology; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007484:Iowa / Q000453:epidemiology; D008297:Male; D008605:Mental Health Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009483:Neuropsychological Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D011618:Psychotic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution; D019966:Substance-Related Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy*