Prevalence of eating disorders in a representative sample of female adolescents from Navarra (Spain)

BACKGROUND: In spite of the social concern about eating disorders (ED), inf ormation of its prevalence in Spain is limited. Further studies in communit ies are needed to estimate the frequency of this problem in representative samples of the population. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: TO estimate the prevalence of anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), and partial syndromes of the <<non specified eating d isorders>> (NOSED) type, a representative sample of the female population o f Navarre was selected using a random multistage sampling scheme. A sample of 2862 participants aged 12 to 21 was studied. The screening procedure was performed using the Eating Attitudes Test (EAT) (values over 30 as the cut off point) and each diagnosis was confirmed using a semi-structured intervi ew performed by a psychiatry according to DSM-IV criteria. RESULTS: The overall prevalence of ED in this female population was 4.1% (9 5% CI: 3.45-4.95). The disorder specific prevalences being NOSED 3.1% (95% CI: 2.5-3.8), BN 0.8 (95% CI: 0.5-1.2) and AN 0.3 (95% CI: 0.1-0.6). CONCLU SIONS: Our results show a slight lower prevalence than what other Spanish a uthors have reported, although we found higher prevalences of incomplete sy ndromes and suggest that a high social burden does exist and primary preven tion strategies are needed.