Eighty-five per cent of what? Discrepancies in the weight cut-off for anorexia nervosa substantially affect the prevalence of underweight.

ABSTRACT:

Background

DSM-IV cites <85% of expected body weight (EBW) as a guideline for the diagnosis of anorexia nervosa (AN) but does not require a specific method for calculating EBW. The purpose of the present study was to determine the degree to which weight cut-off calculations vary across studies, and to evaluate whether differential cut-offs lead to discrepancies in the prevalence of individuals who are eligible for the AN diagnosis.

Method

Two coders independently recorded the EBW calculation methods from 99 studies that either (a) compared individuals with AN to those with subclinical eating disorders or (b) conducted AN treatment trials. Each weight cut-off was applied to a nationally representative (n=12001) and treatment-seeking (n=189) sample to determine the impact of E

SUBMITTER: Thomas JJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2847836 | biostudies-literature | 2009 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature