Differentiating purging and nonpurging bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder.
OBJECTIVE
To explore similarities and differences in clinical and personality variables across three groups: binge eating disorder (BED), bulimia nervosa-purging type (BN-P), and bulimia nervosa-non purging type (BN-NP).


METHODS
The participants were 102 female eating disorders patients (34 BED, 34 BN-P, and 34 BN-NP) consecutively admitted to the eating disorders unit, at the University Hospital of Bellvitge, and diagnosed according to DSM-IV criteria.


RESULTS
BED patients were older, and more likely to have personal and family history of obesity. A gradient in psychopathological scores emerged with BN-P patients having higher pathological scores on the SCL-90-R, followed by BN-NP and BED patients. No statistically significant differences were observed in personality traits.


CONCLUSIONS
Our data supported that eating disorders (namely BED, BN-NP, and BN-P) followed a linear trend in general psychopathology. Whereas personality may represent a shared vulnerability factor, differences in clinical severity suggest there to be a continuum with BN-P being the most severe and BED being the least severe.
Núñez-Navarro
Araceli
A
Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Bellvitge, Feixa Llarga s/n, PC: 08907 Barcelona, Spain.
Jiménez-Murcia
Susana
S
Alvarez-Moya
Eva
E
Villarejo
Cynthia
C
Díaz
Isabel Sanchez
IS
Augmantell
Cristina Masuet
CM
Granero
Roser
R
Penelo
Eva
E
Krug
Isabel
I
Tinahones
Francisco J
FJ
Bulik
Cynthia M
CM
Fernández-Aranda
Fernando
F
D000328:Adult; D056912:Binge-Eating Disorder / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis; D052018:Bulimia Nervosa / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis; D003863:Depression / Q000175:diagnosis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D010551:Personality; D011569:Psychiatric Status Rating Scales; D012649:Self Concept; D014839:Vomiting / Q000145:classification* / Q000175:diagnosis