Table 1.
Demographic and clinical characteristics of anorexia nervosa patients (AN), bulimia nervosa patients (BN), and healthy controls (HC)
| Eating disorders | Healthy control | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| AN (n = 22) | BN (n = 36) | HC (n = 51) | |||||||
| Observed mean, M(SD) | Mean | SD | Mean | SD | Mean | SD | F-value | p-value | Post hoc |
| Age (years) | 25.77 | 6.26 | 25.94 | 5.81 | 23.82 | 5.58 | 1.71 | 0.19 | n.s. |
| Education (years) | 13.23 | 2.20 | 14.07 | 1.87 | 14.00 | 0.91 | 1.24 | 0.30 | n.s. |
| Duration of illness (only AN, BN) | 7.24 | 6.47 | 7.15 | 5.80 | − | − | 0.00 | 0.96 | n.s. |
| BMI (kg/m2) | 15.87 | 2.62 | 19.76 | 2.38 | 20.99 | 1.71 | 76.83 | 0.00 | HC>AN, HC>BN, BN>AN |
| TAS-20 | 60.07 | 7.95 | 64.00 | 8.16 | 49.50 | 9.71 | 26.89 | 0.00 | AN>HC, BN>HC |
| HADSa | 11.06 | 4.29 | 12.00 | 3.87 | 4.61 | 3.39 | 42.55 | 0.00 | AN>HC, BN>HC |
| HADSd | 9.18 | 4.79 | 11.32 | 4.43 | 3.37 | 3.14 | 41.38 | 0.00 | AN>HC, BN>HC |
| EDE-Qg | 3.23 | 1.60 | 3.97 | 1.26 | 1.07 | 0.89 | 59.89 | 0.00 | AN>HC, BN>HC |
| EDE-Qr | 3.00 | 1.89 | 3.17 | 1.62 | 0.68 | 0.81 | 39.78 | 0.00 | AN>HC, BN>HC |
| EDE-Qe | 3.39 | 1.70 | 3.72 | 1.63 | 0.47 | 0.64 | 75.27 | 0.00 | AN>HC, BN>HC |
| EDE-Qw | 3.74 | 1.32 | 4.32 | 1.45 | 1.44 | 1.29 | 44.73 | 0.00 | AN>HC, BN>HC |
| EDE-Qs | 3.96 | 1.23 | 4.56 | 1.23 | 1.70 | 1.25 | 50.96 | 0.00 | AN>HC, BN>HC |
| BITEss | 8.75 | 6.32 | 11.57 | 5.56 | 1.37 | 1.18 | 67.76 | 0.00 | AN>HC, BN>HC |
| BITEsas | 17.63 | 10.14 | 22.61 | 4.38 | 5.33 | 4.46 | 104.27 | 0.00 | AN>HC, BN>HC |
| EDI-2 | 117.06 | 43.93 | 139.83 | 37.19 | 60.64 | 29.77 | 52.29 | 0.00 | AN>HC, BN>HC |
| MOCI | 10.47 | 5.93 | 13.55 | 6.21 | 7.17 | 3.34 | 15.83 | 0.00 | BN>HC |
| Comobidities; n= | |||||||||
| Dysthymia | − | 3 | |||||||
| Panic disorder | − | 1 | |||||||
| Somatoform | 1 | − | |||||||
| Anxiety disorder | 1 | − | |||||||
| Alcohol dependence | − | 1 | |||||||
| Medication; n= | |||||||||
| SSRIs | − | 10 | |||||||
BMI: body mass index; TAS-20: Toronto Alexithymia Scale; EDE-Qg: Eating Disorder Examination Questionnaire (global score); EDE-Qr: restricting; EDE-Qe: eating concern; EDE-Qw: weight concern; EDE-Qs: shape concern; HADSa: Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (anxiety); HADSd: Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (depression); BITEsas: Bulimia Investigatory Test, Edinburgh: (symptom scale); BITEss: Bulimia Investigatory Test, Edinburgh (severity scale); MOCI: Maudsley Obsessive-Compulsive Inventory; EDI-2: Eating Disorders Inventory 2; SSRIs: selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors.
In bold: p-value <0.05, n.s.: not significant.