Grasping the weight cut-off for anorexia nervosa in children and adolescents.
Int J Eat Disord
; 51(12): 1346-1351, 2018 12.
Article
em En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-30548931
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders 5 suggests the 5th age-adjusted body mass index (BMI) percentile as the numeric cut-off for anorexia nervosa (AN) in children and adolescents. We aimed to investigate the degree to which the 5th age-adjusted percentile as the numeric cut-off for AN in youths reflects the clinical population of patients accepted for treatment.METHOD:
From a specialized eating disorder clinic, 305 patients with AN below 18 years of age were grouped according to age-adjusted BMI percentiles [below the 5th (low), above the 10th (high), and between the 5th and the 10th (medium)]. The distribution of eating disorder diagnoses and severity measured by the Eating Disorder Examination was compared.RESULTS:
Full-syndrome anorexia nervosa (F.50.0) was found in 182 (59.5%) patients and atypical anorexia nervosa (F.50.1) in 123 patients (40.5%). The number of patients in the low, medium, and high BMI percentile groups was 189 (62.0%), 34 (11.1%), and 82 (26.9%), respectively. Patients in the low BMI group differed from patients in the medium BMI group by a lower frequency of vomiting. The high BMI group presented with more weight and shape concern than the lower BMI group. Age was not a confounder of these associations.DISCUSSION:
We question the applicability of the 5th BMI percentile as a substantiated cut-off for the weight criterion in anorexia nervosa in youths and argue that the cut-off should not be ascribed great clinical importance as this may hinder early detection of illness and initiation of treatment.Palavras-chave
Texto completo:
1
Coleções:
01-internacional
Base de dados:
MEDLINE
Assunto principal:
Peso Corporal
/
Anorexia Nervosa
Tipo de estudo:
Guideline
/
Screening_studies
Limite:
Adolescent
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Int J Eat Disord
Ano de publicação:
2018
Tipo de documento:
Article