Psychiatric comorbidities among female adolescents with anorexia nervosa.
This study investigated current comorbid Axis I diagnoses associated with Anorexia Nervosa (AN) in adolescents. The sample included 101 female adolescents treated at a psychiatric unit for primary DSM-IV diagnoses of AN. 73.3% of the AN patients were diagnosed as having a current comorbidity of at least one comorbid Axis I diagnosis, with no differences across AN subtypes. Mood disorders (60.4%) were most commonly identified, followed by the category anxiety disorders without obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD) (25.7%), OCD (16.8%) and substance use disorders (7.9%). Two specific diagnoses differed across the two subtypes of AN. Substance use disorder was 18 times, and the category anxiety disorder without OCD was three times as likely to co-occur with AN binge-eating disorder and purging type than with AN restricting type. Clinicians should be alerted to the particularly high rate of psychiatric comorbidities in adolescents suffering from AN.
Salbach-Andrae
Harriet
H
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatic and Psychotherapy, Charité, Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Augustenburger Platz 1, 13353, Berlin, Germany. harriet.salbach@charite.de
Lenz
Klaus
K
Simmendinger
Nicole
N
Klinkowski
Nora
N
Lehmkuhl
Ulrike
U
Pfeiffer
Ernst
E
D000293:Adolescent; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D003710:Demography; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D009771:Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index