Prevalence of Psychosomatic and Other Medical Illnesses in Anorexic and Bulimic Patients

• Main Authors: A.-M. Ghadirian, F. Engelsmann, P. Leichner, M. Marshall
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hindawi Limited 1993-01-01
• Series: Behavioural Neurology
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.3233/BEN-1993-6302
• ISSN: 0953-4180; 1875-8584

The occurrence of psychosomatic disorders (PSD) in patients with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa has rarely been investigated. We examined the prevalence of four psychosomatic disorders [peptic ulcer (PU), bronchial asthma (BA), neurodermatitis (ND), and rheumatoid arthritis (RA)] in patients consecutively admitted to an eating disorders (ED) program. Responses to a validated questionnaire and clinical file information were obtained from 152 patients, 60% of whom were bulimic and 40% were anorexic. The average age of the patients was 27.5 years and all but two patients were female. There was a higher life-time prevalence of the psychosomatic disorders among anorexics compared with bulimic patients, except for RA. PU and BA were reported by 10% of anorexics compared with 7.6% and 8.7%, respectively, by bulimic patients. RA was rare in both anorexic (1.6%) and bulimic patients (5.4%). The young age of the patients under study was to be considered limiting the life-time prevalence. The study contains epidemiological data on the prevalence of other medical illnesses in ED patients as well as the prevalence of PSD and eating disorders in their families.