A screening tool for detecting eating disorder risk and diagnostic symptoms among college-age women

Abstract

Objective: As eating disorders (EDs) often emerge during college, managing EDs would ideally integrate prevention and treatment. To achieve this goal, an efficient tool is needed that detects clinical symptoms and level of risk. This study evaluated the performance of a screen designed to identify individuals at risk for or with an ED. Participants: Five hundred forty-nine college-age women. Methods: Participants completed a screen and diagnostic interview. Results: Using parsimonious thresholds for ED diagnoses, screen sensitivity ranged from 0.90 (anorexia nervosa) to 0.55 (purging disorder). Specificity ranged from 0.99 (anorexia nervosa) to 0.78 (subthreshold binge eating disorder) compared to diagnostic interview. Moderate to high area under the curve values were observed. The screen had high sensitivity for detecting high risk. Conclusions: The screen identifies students at risk and has acceptable sensitivity and specificity for identifying most ED diagnoses. This tool is critical for establishing stepped care models for ED intervention.

Keywords:

• Diagnosis
• eating disorders
• prevention
• screening
• treatment
• risk

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (R01 MH081125, T32 HL007456, T32 HL130357, K24 MH070446, F32 HD089586).