Clinical characteristics of early onset anorexia nervosa.
The aim of the current paper is to evaluate clinical characteristics of 30 children with early onset anorexia nervosa (EO-AN; age = 12.2 ± 1.6 years) compared with 30 patients with adolescent onset AN (AO-AN; age = 15.9 ± 0.7 years) and 60 age-matched healthy controls. Statistical analyses included one-way analyses of variance with three planned comparisons and chi-square tests. Compared with AO-AN, EO-AN patients displayed more restrictive eating behaviour (p = 0.038), received more tube-feeding (p = 0.024), and had less problems with self-esteem (p < 0.001) and perfectionism (p = 0.001). EO-AN patients have similar eating disorder pathology (p = 0.183), body-image distortion (p = 0.060), and number of hospitalizations (p = 0.358) as AO-AN. Only a third of EO-AN patients suffer from low self-esteem. Overall, core AN pathology seems similar in EO-AN and AO-AN. However, EO-AN patients show differences in their pathological eating behaviour and the need for tube-feeding.
['van Noort|Betteke Maria|BM|0000-0002-9768-3383', 'Lohmar|Sylvie Katharina|SK|', 'Pfeiffer|Ernst|E|', 'Lehmkuhl|Ulrike|U|', 'Winter|Sibylle Maria|SM|', 'Kappel|Viola|V|']
D000293:Adolescent D017668:Age of Onset D000856:Anorexia Nervosa D016022:Case-Control Studies D002648:Child D005247:Feeding Behavior D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008297:Male D000072639:Perfectionism D012649:Self Concept
early onset anorexia nervosa children premenarcheal