Background Bulimia nervosa is typically defined as the combination of
the behaviours of binging and vomi ting.We sought to clarify the relat
ionship of these behaviours from a genetic epidemiological perspective
. Method Using data on the lifetime history of binging and vomiting fr
om a personally interviewed population-based sample of female twins (n
=1897), we applied bivariate twin modelling to estimate the sources of
variation for these traits. Results The association between having ev
er binged (23.6%) and having ever induced vomiting (4.8%) was very str
ong (odds ratio=8.78, P <<0.0001). The best-fitting model indicated th
at lifetime binging and vomiting were both heritable (46% and 72%) and
influenced by individual -specific environmental factors (54% and 28%
). The overlap between the genetic (r(a)=0.74) and individual-specific
environmental factors (r(e)=0.48) for the two traits was substantial.
No violations of the equal environment assumption were evident. Concl
usions including binging and vomiting under the rubric of bulimia nerv
osa appears to be appropriate.Our data are consistent with the identif
ication of binging and vomiting as complex traits resulting from the i
nterplay of multiple genes and individual-specific environmental influ
ences. in contrast to 'environmentalist' theories, our results suggest
that genetic influences may be of particular relevance to the aetiolo
gy of binging and vomiting.