THE PREVALENCE OF EATING DISORDERS IN THYROID-DISEASE - A PILOT-STUDY

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of eating disord ers and partial syndromes in women with thyroid disease. Female patien ts between the ages of 18 and 45 who attended a specialist thyroid cli nic, in 1990, were asked to complete two self-report questionnaires (B ulimic Investigatory Test, Edinburgh, BITE and General Health Question naire, GHQ). High scoring patients were invited to attend for a resear ch interview. The case notes of non-responders were examined. Seventy- three patients were entered into the study and 50 subjects returned th eir questionnaires (69%). Eleven patients scored highly on the BITE, n ine of these patients also scoring highly on the GHQ, as did a further 12 patients. Ten patients were interviewed; of these, three patients (4%) met DSM111R criteria for bulimia nervosa and three patients met c riteria for an eating disorder not otherwise specified. These results suggest that there is an increased prevalence of eating disorders in w omen thyroid patients.