Clinician confidence and practices for evaluating bone health in male and female adolescents and young adults with an eating disorder

ABSTRACT

Extensive literature exists on bone health in females with an eating disorder, yet few have studied males. Our study assessed clinician confidence and current practices for assessing bone health in patients with an eating disorder. We also aimed to identify any differences in practice based on patient sex. Our 31-item survey, distributed to adolescent clinicians in the United States via the Society for Adolescent Health and Medicine (SAHM) listserv, assessed clinician confidence and practices for assessing bone mineral density in both male and female adolescents with an eating disorder. Findings showed that clinicians (n = 104) were less confident in assessing bone mineral density in males compared to females (p < .001), yet there was no significant difference in rates of obtaining a DXA (p = .390). Although clinicians are less confident assessing bone health in males with an eating disorder than females, this does not appear to result in screening differences.

Acknowledgments

All authors were involved in study design, implementation, analysis and write up of results. This manuscript has not been previously published nor is this work under review for publication with any other journal while under consideration by the Eating Disorders: The Journal of Treatment and Prevention.

Disclosure statement

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

Data Availability

The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Additional information

Funding

This original work was supported by grant funding through the Mary Gallo Endowment PTA 1244243-100-JCHAC (Mary Gallo Endowment) and Maternal and Child Health Research Institute (MCHRI) at Stanford University (PTA 1244243-100-JCHAC). The corresponding author is also supported through NIH funding (K08HL159350). Funding sources had no involvement with the survey design, methods, data analysis or writing of this manuscript.