Psychiatric comorbidities among female adolescents with anorexia nervosa

Child Psychiatry Hum Dev. 2008 Sep;39(3):261-72. doi: 10.1007/s10578-007-0086-1. Epub 2007 Nov 7.

Abstract

This study investigated current comorbid Axis I diagnoses associated with Anorexia Nervosa (AN) in adolescents. The sample included 101 female adolescents treated at a psychiatric unit for primary DSM-IV diagnoses of AN. 73.3% of the AN patients were diagnosed as having a current comorbidity of at least one comorbid Axis I diagnosis, with no differences across AN subtypes. Mood disorders (60.4%) were most commonly identified, followed by the category anxiety disorders without obsessive-compulsive disorders (OCD) (25.7%), OCD (16.8%) and substance use disorders (7.9%). Two specific diagnoses differed across the two subtypes of AN. Substance use disorder was 18 times, and the category anxiety disorder without OCD was three times as likely to co-occur with AN binge-eating disorder and purging type than with AN restricting type. Clinicians should be alerted to the particularly high rate of psychiatric comorbidities in adolescents suffering from AN.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Anorexia Nervosa / diagnosis
  • Anorexia Nervosa / epidemiology*
  • Anorexia Nervosa / psychology
  • Anxiety Disorders / diagnosis
  • Anxiety Disorders / epidemiology*
  • Anxiety Disorders / psychology*
  • Comorbidity
  • Demography
  • Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders
  • Female
  • Follow-Up Studies
  • Humans
  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / diagnosis
  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / epidemiology*
  • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder / psychology*
  • Severity of Illness Index