Epidemiology of anorexia nervosa in men: a nationwide study of Finnish twins.
BACKGROUND
To examine the epidemiology of anorexia nervosa in men, we screened Finnish male twins born in 1975-79.


RESULTS
Men (N = 2122) from FinnTwin16 birth cohorts were screened for lifetime eating disorders by a questionnaire. The screen positives (N = 18), their male co-twins (N = 10) and those with lifetime minimum BMI< or =17.5 (N = 21) were administered the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV anorexia nervosa. The incidence rate of anorexia nervosa for the presumed peak age of risk (10-24y) was 15.7 per 100,000 person-years; its lifetime prevalence was 0.24%. All probands had recovered from eating disorders, but suffered from substantial psychiatric comorbidity, which also manifested in their co-twins. Additionally, male co-twins displayed significant dissatisfaction with body musculature, a male-specific feature of body dysmorphic disorder.


CONCLUSIONS
Anorexia nervosa in males in the community is more common, transient and accompanied by more substantial comorbidity than previously thought.
Raevuori
Anu
A
Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. anu.raevuori@helsinki.fi
Hoek
Hans W
HW
Susser
Ezra
E
Kaprio
Jaakko
J
Rissanen
Aila
A
Keski-Rahkonen
Anna
A
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D015897:Comorbidity; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D015995:Prevalence; D014427:Twins / Q000502:physiology*