Child Abuse Negl 1996 Jul;20(7):633-642
OBJECTIVE: There were two aims: First, to determine whether sexual
or physical abuse in childhood or adolescence increases the risk of
developing bulimia nervosa, and second, to see whether any increase in
risk is specific to bulimia nervosa rather than being common to
psychiatric disorders in general. METHOD: A case control design with
individual matching was used. There were two related case control
comparisons based on community samples. One hundred and two young
adult women with bulimia nervosa were compared with 204 control
subjects without an eating disorder, and with 102 control subjects
with other psychiatric disorders, all recruited from the same
community source. An investigator-based interview was used to assess
sexual and physical abuse. RESULTS: Sexual abuse involving physical
contact was reported by 35% of the cases of bulimia nervosa. It was
more common among this group than among the normal controls. Physical
abuse was also reported by a minority of the cases of bulimia nervosa,
and was more common among this group than among the normal
controls. However, there were no significant differences between the
cases of bulimia nervosa and the controls with general psychiatric
disorder, except in the category of repeated severe sexual abuse: this
was more common among the cases of bulimia nervosa although present
only in small numbers within these two groups. CONCLUSIONS: The
findings indicate that sexual and physical abuse are both risk factors
for the development of bulimia nervosa. However, they are not present
in the majority of cases. This indicates that other risk factors must
operate in these cases. Sexual and physical abuse do not appear to be
risk factors specific to bulimia nervosa; rather, they appear to be
risk factors for psychiatric disorder in general in young adult
women.
PMID: 8832119, UI: 96429018