Screening for binge eating disorders using the Patient Health Questionnaire in a community sample.
OBJECTIVE
To examine the operating characteristics of the Patient Health Questionnaire eating disorder module (PHQ-ED) for identifying bulimia nervosa/binge eating disorder (BN/BED) or recurrent binge eating (RBE) in a community sample and to compare true positive (TP) versus false positive (FP) cases on clinical validators.


METHODS
Two hundred and fifty-nine screen-positive individuals and a random sample of 89 screen negative cases completed a diagnostic interview. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value (PPV) were calculated. TP and FP cases were compared using t-tests and Chi-square tests.


RESULTS
The PHQ-ED had high sensitivity (100%) and specificity (92%) for detecting BN/BED or RBE, but PPV was low (10 or 19%). TP and FP cases did not differ significantly on frequency of subjective bulimic episodes, objective overeating, restraint, on BMI, and on self-rated health.


CONCLUSIONS
The PHQ-ED is recommended for use in large populations only in conjunction with follow-up questions to rule out cases without objective bulimic episodes.
Department of Psychology, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut 06459-0408, USA. rstriegel@wesleyan.edu
Ruth H
RH
Striegel-Moore
Nancy
N
Perrin
Lynn
L
DeBar
G Terence
GT
Wilson
Francine
F
Rosselli
Helena C
HC
Kraemer
D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D056912:Binge-Eating Disorder / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D015992:Body Mass Index; D052018:Bulimia Nervosa / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006279:Health Maintenance Organizations; D006306:Health Surveys; D006801:Humans; D015994:Incidence; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D009765:Obesity / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology; D011594:Psychometrics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012008:Recurrence; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014481:United States; D055815:Young Adult