Eating disorders in males: a representative survey

Abstract

The present study examined the prevalence of eating disorders in a male representative random sample in Tyrol. The data were collected by telephone. Of the 1000 men, 8 (0.8%) met the DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for binge eating disorder. An additional 42 subjects (4.2%) exhibited a partial binge eating syndrome. These two otherwise widely identical groups of binge eaters were separated only by the DSM-IV frequency criterion. Five subjects (0.5%) met the DSM-IV criteria for the diagnosis of bulimia nervosa, and 94 men (9.4%) reported recurrent overeating. Men with any eating disorder were mostly overweight or obese. The findings show that there is a significant difference in eating disorders between men and women, but certain eating disorders are frequent not only in women but also in men.