Female patients were recruited from the eating disorder centre at the Aarhus University Hospital in Denmark. Recruited patients were mainly given outpatient treatment. The inclusion criteria were age = 18 (M = 24.8, SD = 5.7, range 18–54 years), and a full or partial DSM-IV diagnosis of anorexia nervosa (AN) or bulimia nervosa (BN) determined by the Eating Disorder Examination (EDE) (Fairburn and Cooper 1993 ). Partial AN/BN were defined as moderate to severe eating disorders with incomplete fulfilling of diagnostic criteria, i.e., not having amenorrhea, or having eating disorder symptoms with a lower frequency or shorter duration. This is similar to the DSM category “Eating Disorders Not Otherwise Specified” (EDNOS). Patients with a binge eating disorder, a BMI = 30 or who missed two or more questions in at least one of the EDI subscales were excluded. All patients were examined for comorbid psychiatric and medical disorders, the results of which are reported elsewhere (Clausen 2008 (link); Godt 2008 (link)). Comorbidity was not an exclusion criterion if the eating disorder was severe enough to stand out as the main diagnosis. Of the active sample (N = 561), 84 had AN of whom 56 with the restricting subtype and 28 with the bulimic subtype, respectively, 202 had BN, and 275 had partial AN/BN.
Non clinical controls (N = 2000) comprised women aged 18–30 years, selected from the Danish Civil Registration system representative of the Danish female population. They were invited, by letter, to complete the Danish version of the EDI and additional questions on paper or through the internet. 935 females responded, and 57 were excluded because they missed more than one question in one of the subscales, leaving us with a final sample of 878 respondents (44%, N = 2000). Of patients included mean age was 25.8 (SD = 3.6), mean BMI was 23.3 (SD = 4.5), 16 (1.8%) had BMI < 17.5 and 51 (5.8%) had BMI > 30. No interviews were performed to determine formal eating disorder diagnoses and no controls were excluded because of possible eating disorders.
In agreement with the Psychological Assessment Research, Inc., the official Danish version of the EDI-3 was translated/back-translated to ensure comparability. The study was approved by the ethics committee of Region of Central Jutland and the Danish Data Protection Agency.
Non clinical controls (N = 2000) comprised women aged 18–30 years, selected from the Danish Civil Registration system representative of the Danish female population. They were invited, by letter, to complete the Danish version of the EDI and additional questions on paper or through the internet. 935 females responded, and 57 were excluded because they missed more than one question in one of the subscales, leaving us with a final sample of 878 respondents (44%, N = 2000). Of patients included mean age was 25.8 (SD = 3.6), mean BMI was 23.3 (SD = 4.5), 16 (1.8%) had BMI < 17.5 and 51 (5.8%) had BMI > 30. No interviews were performed to determine formal eating disorder diagnoses and no controls were excluded because of possible eating disorders.
In agreement with the Psychological Assessment Research, Inc., the official Danish version of the EDI-3 was translated/back-translated to ensure comparability. The study was approved by the ethics committee of Region of Central Jutland and the Danish Data Protection Agency.
