Eating disorders: What age at onset?

Umberto Volpe; Alfonso Tortorella; Mirko Manchia; Alessio M Monteleone; Umberto Albert; Palmiero Monteleone

doi:10.1016/j.psychres.2016.02.048

Eating disorders: What age at onset?

Psychiatry Res. 2016 Apr 30:238:225-227. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2016.02.048. Epub 2016 Feb 22.

Authors

Umberto Volpe¹, Alfonso Tortorella², Mirko Manchia³, Alessio M Monteleone², Umberto Albert⁴, Palmiero Monteleone⁵

Affiliations

¹ Department of Psychiatry, University of Naples SUN, Largo Madonna delle Grazie, 80138 Naples, Italy. Electronic address: umberto.volpe@unina2.it.
² Department of Psychiatry, University of Naples SUN, Largo Madonna delle Grazie, 80138 Naples, Italy.
³ Section of Psychiatry, Department of Public Health, University of Cagliari, Italy; Department of Pharmacology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS, Canada.
⁴ Rita Levi Montalcini Department of Neuroscience, Anxiety and Mood Disorders Unit, University of Turin, Italy.
⁵ Department of Psychiatry, University of Naples SUN, Largo Madonna delle Grazie, 80138 Naples, Italy; Department of Medicine and Surgery, University of Salerno, Italy.

PMID: 27086237
DOI: 10.1016/j.psychres.2016.02.048

Abstract

Age at onset (AAO) of eating disorders has classically been described in adolescence. We analyzed data from 806 subjects with anorexia nervosa (AN) or bulimia nervosa (BN) and performed a normal distribution admixture analysis to determine their AAO. No significant differences were found concerning the AAO functions of AN and BN subjects. Both groups had a mean AAO of about 18 years. Most of the subjects with AN (75.3%) and BN (83.3%) belonged to the early onset group. The definition of AAO for ED may be crucial for planning treatment modalities, with specific consideration of their clinical history and course.

Keywords: Age at onset; Eating disorders; Prognosis.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Adult
Age of Onset
Anorexia Nervosa / diagnosis*
Anorexia Nervosa / epidemiology*
Anorexia Nervosa / therapy
Bulimia Nervosa / diagnosis*
Bulimia Nervosa / epidemiology*
Bulimia Nervosa / therapy
Feeding and Eating Disorders / diagnosis
Feeding and Eating Disorders / epidemiology
Female
Humans
Male
Young Adult