Comparative Distribution and Validity of DSM-IV and DSM-5 Diagnoses of Eating Disorders in Adolescents from the Community

• Published in: European eating disorders review Vol. 23; no. 2; pp. 100 - 110
• Main Authors: Flament, Martine F., Buchholz, Annick, Henderson, Katherine, Obeid, Nicole, Maras, Danijela, Schubert, Nick, Paterniti, Sabrina, Goldfield, Gary
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01-03-2015; John Wiley and Sons, Limited
• Subjects: Adolescent; Binge-Eating Disorder - diagnosis; Binge-Eating Disorder - epidemiology; Bulimia Nervosa - diagnosis; Bulimia Nervosa - epidemiology; Canada - epidemiology; Comparative analysis; Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; DSM-5; Eating disorders; Feeding and Eating Disorders - classification; Feeding and Eating Disorders - diagnosis; Feeding and Eating Disorders - epidemiology; Female; Humans; Male; Medical diagnosis; Prevalence; Reproducibility of Results; Socioeconomic Factors; Surveys and Questionnaires; Teenagers; validation; Validity; Canada; prevalence; adolescent; DSM-5; eating disorders; validation
• ISSN: 1072-4133; 1099-0968
• DOI: 10.1002/erv.2339

Objectives
DSM‐5 changes for eating disorders (EDs) aimed to reduce preponderance of non‐specified cases and increase validity of specific diagnoses. The objectives were to estimate the combined effect of changes on prevalence of EDs in adolescents and examine validity of diagnostic groupings.
Method
A total of 3043 adolescents (1254 boys and 1789 girls, Mage = 14.19 years, SD = 1.61) completed self‐report questionnaires including the Eating Disorder Diagnostic Scale.
Results
Prevalence of full‐threshold EDs increased from 1.8% (DSM‐IV) to 3.7% (DSM‐5), with a higher prevalence of bulimia nervosa (1.6%) and the addition of the diagnosis of purging disorder (1.4%); prevalence of binge eating disorder was unchanged (0.5%), and non‐specified cases decreased from 5.1% (DSM‐IV) to 3.4% (DSM‐5). Validation analyses demonstrated that DSM‐5 ED subgroups better captured variance in psychopathology than DSM‐IV subgroups.
Discussion
Findings extend results from previous prevalence and validation studies into the adolescent age range. Improved diagnostic categories should facilitate identification of EDs and indicate targeted treatments. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.