[Prevalence and comorbidity of body dysmorphic disorder in psychiatric outpatients].
BACKGROUND
Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a somatoform disorder, characterized by a patient's preoccupation with the belief that some aspect of his/her physical appearance is abnormal. The prevalence of BDD in the general population is 0.7 - 1.7%. The prevalence of BDD in patients attending a Dutch general outpatient clinic has never been examined.


OBJECTIVE
Examine the prevalence of BDD in patients attending a Dutch general outpatient clinic.


METHODS
All patients aged 18 to 65 who were referred between September 2003 and July 2007 to six general outpatients clinics for treatment of a depressive disorder, an anxiety disorder, or a somatoform disorder were assessed with the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (mini). Patients with BDD were also assessed by means of the Body Dysmorphic Disorder - Yale- Brown Obsessive Compulsive Scale (BDD-YBOCS). results BDD was diagnosed in 45 out of 5848 patients (0.8% (0.6-1.0%)). The average age of these patients was 31.1. years and 69% were female. A comorbid depressive disorder was present in 35 patients (78%) and a comorbid anxiety disorder in 26 patients (58%). Of the anxiety disorders, social phobia was the most common, with a prevalence of 27%. The average score on the BDD-YBOCS was 22.5 points. The BDD-YBOCS score was significantly higher in patients with a comorbid obsessive-compulsive disorder (35.7 points; p = 0.01).


CONCLUSIONS
The prevalence of BDD in psychiatric outpatients who were referred for treatment of a depressive disorder, an anxiety disorder, or a somatoform disorder was 0.8%. There was a high comorbidity of BDD with depressive and anxiety disorders.
Vinkers
D J
DJ
LUMC, afdeling Psychiatrie, Postbus 9600, 2300 RC Leiden. d.j.vinkers@lumc.nl
van Rood
Y R
YR
van der Wee
N J A
NJ
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000553:Ambulatory Care / Q000379:methods*; D001008:Anxiety Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D015897:Comorbidity; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009426:Netherlands / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology