Sex-specific issues in eating disorders: A clinical and psychopathological investigation

Abstract

Introduction

Gender is crucial in many aspects of life, including attitude towards body image perception. Although the well-known female preponderance, recent studies demonstrate an increasing Eating Disorders (EDs) incidence in males but scant literature attention.

Aims

This study aims to highlight the growing phenomenon of EDs in males and shed light on sex-related clinical features and psychiatric comorbidities.

Method

Out of 280 persons aged 18–74, consecutively referred to Bologna's outpatients EDs clinic, 267 were included in this retrospective observational study.

Results

The men/women ratio was one to five. The most frequent EDs in males was Binge Eating Disorder, whereas in females Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa prevailed. Excessive exercising and fasting were the most common dysfunctional behaviors in men, while self-induced vomiting and laxative-diuretic abuse were more typical in women. Mood and Somatoform Disorders were more common in women, whereas Anxiety and Psychosis Disorders in males. Within personality disorders, borderline and histrionic prevailed in female, while narcissistic and anti-social in males.

Conclusions

Male compared to female EDs, show differences in clinical presentation, symptoms and comorbidities. The increased proportion of affected men should alert general practitioners, clinicians and psychologists working in non-specialized settings to be more aware of the possibilities of encountering an ED in men and of the need of exploring the eating habits in all male patients. The finding of a more pronounced physical hyperactivity in men in order to achieve an ideal body shape which is muscular and athletic suggests the need of a deeper attention to sex-different symptoms and behaviors declination.

Disclosure of interest

The authors have not supplied their declaration of competing interest.