Familial aggregation of eating disorders: Results from a controlled family study of bulimia nervosa

✍ Scribed by Stein, Daniel ;Lilenfeld, Lisa R. ;Plotnicov, Katherine ;Pollice, Christine ;Rao, Radhika ;Strober, Michael ;Kaye, Walter H.

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 1999
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 100 KB
• Volume: 26
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0276-3478
• DOI: 10.1002/(sici)1098-108x(199909)26:2<211::aid-eat11>3.0.co;2-0

✦ Synopsis

Objective:

While familial aggregation of bulimia nervosa (bn) is known to occur, the extent to which aggregation of a broader spectrum of eating disorders (ed) occurs in the families of individuals with bn is less certain.

Method:

Direct interviews and blind best-estimate diagnostic procedures were used to assess lifetime histories of eds among first-degree relatives (n = 177) of probands with bn (n = 47) and first-degree relatives (n = 190) of non-ed control probands (n = 44).

Results:

Forty-three percent of sisters and 26% of mothers of bn probands had a lifetime ed diagnosis, with eating disorder not otherwise specified (ed-nos) diagnoses being most common. these rates were significantly higher than among sisters (5%) and mothers (5%) of controls. few male relatives of either cohort had an ed.

Conclusions:

Diagnostic assessment using contemporary family-epidemiology methodology revealed very strong familial aggregation of a broad spectrum of eds among female relatives of women with bn.