title: Differentiating purging and nonpurging bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder.
abstract: 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.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University Hospital of Bellvitge, Feixa Llarga s/n, PC: 08907 Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Araceli
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Núñez-Navarro
authors.forename: Susana
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Jiménez-Murcia
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Alvarez-Moya
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Villarejo
authors.forename: Isabel Sanchez
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Díaz
authors.forename: Cristina Masuet
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Augmantell
authors.forename: Roser
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Granero
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Penelo
authors.forename: Isabel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Krug
authors.forename: Francisco J
authors.initials: FJ
authors.lastname: Tinahones
authors.forename: Cynthia M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Bulik
authors.forename: Fernando
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Fernández-Aranda
mesh_terms: 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