The prevalence of bulimia nervosa. A replication study

Abstract

There have been reports of a high prevalence of bulimic episodes and the syndromes of bulimia nervosa and DSM-III bulimia in community samples. A group of American authors recently compared the findings of a contemporary survey with those of a survey they had conducted previously and reported a three-fold increase in the prevalence of DSM-III bulimia. The present study replicates a community survey conducted four years ago in Britain. The prevalence of bulimic episodes, self-induced vomiting and bulimia nervosa found in the present survey was very similar to that found in the earlier study.