title: Eating disorders and associated mental health comorbidities in female veterans.
abstract: Eating disorders (EDs) remain understudied among veterans, possibly due to the perception that primarily male population does not suffer from EDs. However, previous research suggests that male and female veterans do experience EDs. The high rates of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and obesity observed among veterans may make this group vulnerable to disordered eating. Retrospective chart review was used to obtain data from 492 female veterans who were presented to a women's primary care center at a large, urban VA medical center between 2007 and 2009. A total of 2.8% of this sample had been diagnosed with an ED. In bivariate analyses, presence of PTSD and depression were significantly associated with having an ED diagnosis. However, when these two disorders were included in a multivariate model controlling for age, only depression diagnosis and lower age were significantly related to ED status. In sum, the rate of EDs in this sample is comparable to prevalence estimates of EDs in the general population. Current findings underscore the importance of assessing for EDs among VA patients and the need for further research among veterans.
authors.affiliation: Women׳s Health Sciences Division (116B-3), National Center for PTSD, VA Boston Healthcare System, 150 South Huntington Avenue Boston, MA, 02130 USA; Department of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA. Electronic address: ksmitche@bu.edu.
authors.forename: Karen S
authors.initials: KS
authors.lastname: Mitchell
authors.affiliation: Women׳s Health Sciences Division (116B-3), National Center for PTSD, VA Boston Healthcare System, 150 South Huntington Avenue Boston, MA, 02130 USA; Department of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Ann
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rasmusson
authors.affiliation: Women׳s Health Sciences Division (116B-3), National Center for PTSD, VA Boston Healthcare System, 150 South Huntington Avenue Boston, MA, 02130 USA; Department of Psychiatry, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Brooke
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Bartlett
authors.affiliation: Women׳s Health, VA Boston Healthcare System, Boston, MA, USA; Division of General Internal Medicine, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA, USA.
authors.forename: Megan R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Gerber
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001900:Boston / Q000453:epidemiology; D015897:Comorbidity; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D003866:Depressive Disorder / Q000453:epidemiology; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008603:Mental Health; D008875:Middle Aged; D015995:Prevalence; D011320:Primary Health Care; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013313:Stress Disorders, Post-Traumatic / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology; D014728:Veterans / Q000523:psychology*
keywords: Disordered eating; Mental health; Women