Comparison of body size estimation in adolescents with different types of eating disorders.
OBJECTIVE
To examine differences in body size estimation in adolescents with different types of eating disorders.


METHODS
A total of 129 patients with eating disorders (M(age) = 16.0 +/- 1.8) and 354 healthy control participants (CP) (M(age) = 15.2 +/- 2.1) completed the EDI-2 and were asked to estimate the circumference of selected body parts by using string (BID-CA).


RESULTS
CP showed an average overestimation of 8-16%, depending on the estimated body part. Eating disorder patients overestimated their body parts on average by about 30%. Thigh and waist estimations were the best variables for discriminating between patients with eating disorders and CP. No significant differences were found between bulimia nervosa and anorexia nervosa patients.


CONCLUSIONS
Body image distortion plays an important role in both anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. The BID-CA is well suited to discriminate between healthy and disordered overestimation of body parts.
Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Virchow Klinikum, Germany. nora.schneider@charite.de
Nora
N
Schneider
Katja
K
Frieler
Ernst
E
Pfeiffer
Ulrike
U
Lehmkuhl
Harriet
H
Salbach-Andrae
D000293:Adolescent; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D050218:Body Fat Distribution / Q000523:psychology; D001828:Body Image; D049628:Body Size; D052018:Bulimia Nervosa / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000523:psychology*; D003937:Diagnosis, Differential; D005260:Female; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D007600:Judgment; D010469:Perceptual Distortion; D010555:Personality Inventory; D012016:Reference Values