The prevalence of disordered eating in outpatient general psychiatry settings in publicly insured populations: a case series

ABSTRACT

There is a dearth of research assessing the prevalence of eating disorders in publicly insured populations. While evidence shows that eating disorders affect people of all racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds, research has neglected to focus on the rate at which they occur among those who have public health insurance. The present study indexes the prevalence of clinically significant disordered eating in a case series of 165 adults in a publicly insured sample at an outpatient general psychiatry clinic in Los Angeles, California. Results illustrate that 46 (27.8%) participants screened positive for clinically significant disordered eating with no significant differences relating to age or gender in those who screened positive versus those who did not (p > .05). This markedly elevated frequency of disordered eating presentations underscores the need for improved clinician training and education around disordered eating and eating disorder assessment as a whole. In addition, there is a critical need to study publicly insured populations so as to mitigate stereotypes about who has eating disorders and improve the likelihood of diagnosis and care.

KEYWORDS:

• Eating disorders
• anorexia nervosa
• bulimia nervosa
• binge eating disorder
• prevalence
• Medicaid

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.