[Are anxiety disorders more frequent in subjects with eating disorders?].

OBJECTIVE

We designed a controlled study comparing referred women with an eating disorder (ED) to a matched normal control group to answer the following questions: what are the frequencies of anxiety disorders (AD) in anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN), according to DSM-IV criteria? Are AD significantly more frequent among women with an ED than among women from the community?

METHOD

We assessed frequencies of six specific AD among 271 women with a current diagnosis of AN or BN and 271 controls, using the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI), French DSM-IV version.

RESULTS

Seventy-one percent of both the AN and the BN subjects had a lifetime comorbidity with at least one AD, significantly more (p<0.001) than the percentage of controls with an AD. Prevalence was significantly higher in the ED groups than in controls for most types of AD, and between 41.8% and 53.3% of comorbid cases had an AD preceding the onset of the ED.

CONCLUSION

Evidence that AD are significantly more frequent in subjects with ED than in the community has important etiological and therapeutic implications.