A clinical sample of children and adolescents with eating disorders in Brazil: Comorbidities and socio-demographic characteristics

Abstract

Adolescent onset eating disorders incidence has been rising over the past decades. The peak of incidence occurs in adolescence and the prevalence is 9 times higher in females. It was initially believed that anorexia nervosa manifested only in higher socio-economic levels. More recent studies have identified similar incidence of this disorder also in lower socio-economic levels, rural areas and Asian communities. This study aims to describe comorbidity, socio-demographic and clinical features of a sample attending the Child and Adolescent Eating Disorders Clinic of the University of Sao Paulo. The sample includes all patients attending the clinic between September 2001 and October 2006. Data was obtained from a package of clinical interviews named Development and Well-Being Assessment (DAWBA)[1,2] containing a session for eating disorders and from a socio-economic questionnaire, and analysed using the SPSS10 package. During the last 6 years 82 patients were treated, and approximately 11% were males. The main diagnosis was atypical anorexia nervosa followed by anorexia nervosa according to ICD 10. The main comorbidity was depression followed by anxiety disorders. Approximately 50% of the sample attended free government schools, a indicator of lower social classes. We concluded that our sample, although coming from a public hospital in a developing country presents similar characteristics to other clinical samples in the developed world.