Comorbid drug use disorders and eating disorders: a review of prevalence studies
Journal article, Peer reviewed
Permanent lenke
http://hdl.handle.net/11250/218780Utgivelsesdato
2012Metadata
Vis full innførselSamlinger
Originalversjon
10.2478/v10199-012-0024-9Sammendrag
AIMS – This study reviews literature on comorbidity of drug use disorders (DUD) and eating disorders
(ED). The article updates knowledge on the occurrence of comorbidity of these diagnoses. METHODS
– The databases Embase, Medline and PsycInfo were searched for studies published between 1990
and May 2011, with combinations of the terms ’eating disorder’, ’substance-related disorder’, ’drug
dependence’, ’drug abuse’, ’drug addiction’ and ’substance abuse’. This generated altogether 596
studies. Studies in which diagnostic DUD and ED were not assessed in the same sample or the result
was not given in percentages were excluded. Thirteen studies remained. RESULTS – In 11 of the 13
studies, the participants were initially diagnosed with an eating disorder. The prevalence of lifetime drug
use disorders varies from 8–43 %. In two studies, DUD is the initial diagnosis, and the participants report
14 % concurrent and 27.3 % lifetime ED. The most prevalent co-occurring diagnoses tend to be bulimia
nervosa/bingeing-purging anorexia nervosa, and stimulants/cannabis disorders. CONCLUSIONS – The
lifetime prevalence percentages of eating disorders in people with drug use disorders (and vice versa)
are higher than in the general population. The results indicate that the field of drug disorder treatment
and research could benefit from paying closer attention to the risk of eating disorders.
KEY WORDS – Drug use disorder, eating disorder, anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, comorbidity,
review article.