1.10 A LITERATURE REVIEW: DO DSM-5 SEVERITY INDICATORS FOR EATING DISORDERS APPLY TO CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS?

Recent studies reflect that nearly 13 percent of adolescent girls experience symptoms consistent with DSM-5 feeding and eating disorders (FED). Young men are also affected but are underrepresented in studies and in clinical presentations. Two of the most common FED—anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN)—now have severity specifiers associated with them. For AN, the severity is based on the BMI of the patient at the time of diagnosis. For BN, the severity is based on the frequency of compensatory behaviors. These criteria likely vary with age. In adults, there is some support for the clinical utility of severity specifiers in BN but not AN; research on their use in adolescents is lacking.