Psychological Medicine

Despite a growing body of literature reporting eating disorders (EDs) in non-Western countries in recent years, most of these studies are limited to questionnaire-based surveys or case-series studies. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence and correlates of EDs in Taiwanese high-school students. The study subjects consisted of all the female high-school students enrolled in the gifted dance class in 2003 in Taiwan (n=655) and non-dance female students randomly chosen from the same school (n=1251). All the participants were asked to complete self-report questionnaires, including the 26-item Eating Attitudes Test (EAT-26) and the Bulimic Investigatory Test Edinburgh (BITE). All the screen positives and an approximate 10% random sample of the screen negatives were then interviewed using the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV-TR Axis I Disorders Patient Version (SCID-I/P). The prevalence of individual EDs was much higher in the dance [0.7% for anorexia nervosa (AN), 2.5% for bulimia nervosa (BN) and 4.8% for EDs, not otherwise specified (EDNOS)] than in the non-dance (0.1, 1.0 and 0.7% respectively) students. Multivariate logistic regression analyses revealed that being in the dance class, higher concern about body shape and lower family support were correlates of EDs for all students, whereas lower parental education level was associated with EDs only for non-dance students. EDs were more prevalent in the weight-concerned subpopulation. Although AN is still rare, BN has emerged as a comparable prevalent disorder in Taiwan, as in Western countries.

Determined whether women who were sexually abused as children would have higher rates of medical use compared with nonabused females. The authors also determined whether findings of prior researchers would be replicated when childhood physical abuse levels was controlled and determined the moderating impact of depressed mood on current health measures. 602 women (aged 18-88 yrs) recruited from an HMO completed self-report measures of health symptoms for the previous month and doctor visits for the previous year. Objective doctor records over a 2-yr period were examined for a subset of 136 women. Women who reported childhood sexual abuse reported more health symptoms and more doctor visits. Objective doctor visits demonstrated the same pattern with abused women. Women who were both sexually abused and depressed tended to visit the emergency room more frequently and to have more inpatient internal medicine and opthamology visits than sexually abused but nondepressed women and nonabused controls.