Obsessive-compulsive symptomatology in female adolescent inpatients with restrictive compared with binge-purge eating disorders.

OBJECTIVE: Strong relationships exist between obsessive-compulsive (OC) disorder and eating disorders (EDs). The aim of the study was to investigate whether OC symptoms would be expressed differently in different ED types.

METHOD: Ninety-four female adolescent inpatients with restricting anorexia nervosa (AN-R), 67 with binge/purge AN (AN-B/P), and 48 with bulimia nervosa (BN) were assessed on admission and discharge using the Yale-Brown Obsessive-Compulsive Scale (Y-BOCS), Yale-Brown-Cornell Eating Disorders Scale (YBC-EDS), Eating Attitude Test-26 (EAT-26), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI).

RESULTS: On admission, patients with AN-B/P exhibited higher scores on the Y-BOCS, YBC-EDS, EAT-26, and BDI in comparison with patients with AN-R or BN. A significant improvement on all psychometric variables from admission to discharge was found for all participants taken together. Nonetheless, patients with AN-B/P and/or BN showed a greater improvement on Y-BOCS, BDI, and STAI than patients with AN-R, whereas no between-group difference was found for YBC-EDS and EAT-26.

CONCLUSIONS: Obsessionality is more severe in acutely ill AN-B/P patients than in patients with AN-R and BN, whereas a greater improvement in obsessionality from the acutely ill to the stabilized ED condition is found in patients with binge/purge in comparison with restrictive pathology.