Prevalence of body dysmorphic features in patients undergoing cosmetic procedures at the National Skin Centre, Singapore.
BACKGROUND
Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is characterised by an obsessive preoccupation with a slight defect in appearance, and recognition is essential.


OBJECTIVE
To screen by a previously developed questionnaire the prevalence of BDD in an aesthetics clinic in Singapore. This questionnaire has a positive predictive value of 70% and a negative predictive value of 100%; patients answering that they were preoccupied with their appearance and having answered 'yes' in part A, answered 8 further questions (part B) grading the degree of distress (B4) and impairment (B5) of social functioning.


METHODS
The questionnaire was given to 396 patients: 198 attending Mandalay Aesthetics Clinic and 198 controls at a general outpatient clinic. The screen was considered suggestive of BDD if the patients: were preoccupied by their defect (question A) and qualified the degree of stress (question B4) or impairment of functioning (question B5) as moderate to severe.


RESULTS
58.1% of patients undergoing cosmetic procedures answered 'yes' to question A (odds ratio = 18.21, 95% confidence interval = 9.87-33.59). 41.74 and 26.96% of those qualified the distress (question B4) and impairment (question B5) as moderate to severe.


CONCLUSIONS
A calculated prevalence of 29.4% in an aesthetics centre warrants systematic screening for BDD.
Hsu
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National Skin Centre, 1, Mandalay Road, 308205 Singapore. cologny@yahoo.com
Ali Juma
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Goh
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D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008403:Mass Screening; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D019651:Plastic Surgery Procedures / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012846:Singapore / Q000453:epidemiology; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires