Prevalence of eating disorders in middle‐aged women |
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| Authors: | Barbara Mangweth‐Matzek PhD Hans W. Hoek MD Claudia I. Rupp PhD Kerstin Lackner‐Seifert PhD Nadja Frey MD Alexandra B. Whitworth MD Harrison G. Pope MD Johann Kinzl MD |
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| Affiliation: | 1. University Clinic of Psychosomatic Medicine, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria;2. Parnassia Psychiatric Institute, The Netherlands;3. Department of Psychiatry, University Medical Center Groningen, University of Groningen, The Netherlands;4. Department of Epidemiology, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York;5. University Clinic of Biological Psychiatry, Innsbruck Medical University, Innsbruck, Austria;6. Department of Psychology, University of Innsbruck, Innsbruck, Austria;7. University Clinic for Psychiatry, Bern, Switzerland;8. Psychiatric CL‐Service at the General Public Hospital of the Brothers of St. John of God, Salzburg, Austria;9. Biological Psychiatry Laboratory, McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston |
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| Abstract: | Objective: Little is known about the prevalence and correlates of eating disorders (ED) in middle‐aged women. Method: We mailed anonymous questionnaires to 1,500 Austrian women aged 40–60 years, assessing ED (defined by DSM‐IV), subthreshold ED, body image, and quality of life. We broadly defined “subthreshold ED” by the presence of either (1) binge eating with loss of control or (2) purging behavior, without requiring any of the other usual DSM‐IV criteria for frequency or severity of these symptoms. Results: Of the 715 (48%) responders, 33 [4.6%; 95% confidence interval (CI): 3.3–6.4%] reported symptoms meeting full DSM‐IV criteria for an ED [bulimia nervosa = 10; binge eating disorder = 11; eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS) = 12]. None displayed anorexia nervosa. Another 34 women (4.8%; CI: 3.4–6.6%) displayed subthreshold ED. These women showed levels of associated psychopathology virtually equal to the women with full‐syndrome diagnoses. Discussion: ED appear common in middle‐aged women, with a preponderance of binge eating disorder and EDNOS diagnoses as compared to the “classical” diagnoses of anorexia and bulimia nervosa. Interestingly, middle‐aged women with even very broadly defined subthreshold ED showed distress and impairment comparable to women with full‐scale ED. © 2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. (Int J Eat Disord 2014; 47:320–324) |
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| Keywords: | eating disorders subthreshold eating disorders middle age body image women bulimia nervosa binge‐eating disorder eating disorder not otherwise specified |
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