Eating disorders in adolescents and young women with spina bifida

This is the first report of the association of spina bifida and eating diso rders. Five patients were diagnosed rather late in the course of their illn ess. They all had been overweight premorbidly and had been urged to lose we ight for years in order to improve their mobility. As they dieted, they exp erienced their weight loss as a source of power that could somehow compensa te for their losses and neurologic limitations. They responded to a multidi sciplinary intervention. Clinicians taking care of patients with spins bifi da need to be cognizant that they may be at risk of developing an eating di sorder. Such awareness should influence the quality of nutritional counseli ng (prevention aspect) and the clinical assessment of sudden weight loss (e arly intervention). (C) 1999 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.