Biomaterial Database

Relationship of childhood sexual abuse and eating disorders. 1997

S A Wonderlich, and T D Brewerton, and Z Jocic, and B S Dansky, and D W Abbott

Department of Neuroscience, University of North Dakota School of Medicine and Health Sciences, Fargo 58102, USA. stephenw@mail.med.und.nodak.edu

OBJECTIVE To review the literature that has examined the relationship between childhood sexual abuse and the eating disorders. METHODS Each of the five authors reviewed all identified empirical studies to be certain that inclusion/exclusion criteria were met. Two teams of raters then independently reviewed each study to determine whether it supported any of a series of six hypotheses that had been tested in this literature. RESULTS This review indicates that childhood sexual abuse is a nonspecific risk factor for bulimia nervosa, particularly when there is psychiatric comorbidity. There is some indication that childhood sexual abuse is more strongly associated with bulimic disorders than restricting anorexia, but it does not appear to be associated with severity of the disturbance. CONCLUSIONS Childhood sexual abuse is a risk factor for bulimia nervosa with significant comorbidity. Further study of the nature of this relationship is warranted.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D002032	Bulimia	Eating an excess amount of food in a short period of time, as seen in the disorder of BULIMIA NERVOSA. It is caused by an abnormal craving for food, or insatiable hunger also known as "ox hunger".	Binge Eating,Bulimias,Eating, Binge
D002648	Child	A person 6 to 12 years of age. An individual 2 to 5 years old is CHILD, PRESCHOOL.	Children
D002650	Child Abuse, Sexual	Sexual maltreatment of the child or minor.	Child Molestation,Child Molestation, Sexual,Molestation, Sexual, Child,Sexual Abuse of Child,Sexual Abuse, Child,Abuse, Child Sexual,Child Sexual Abuse,Molestation, Child,Sexual Child Abuse,Sexual Child Molestation
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D000855	Anorexia	The lack or loss of APPETITE accompanied by an aversion to food and the inability to eat. It is the defining characteristic of the disorder ANOREXIA NERVOSA.	Anorexias
D001068	Feeding and Eating Disorders	A group of disorders characterized by physiological and psychological disturbances in appetite or food intake.	Appetite Disorders,Eating Disorders,Eating and Feeding Disorders,Feeding Disorders,Appetite Disorder,Disorder, Eating,Disorder, Feeding,Disorders, Eating,Disorders, Feeding,Eating Disorder,Feeding Disorder
D012307	Risk Factors	An aspect of personal behavior or lifestyle, environmental exposure, inborn or inherited characteristic, which, based on epidemiological evidence, is known to be associated with a health-related condition considered important to prevent.	Health Correlates,Risk Factor Scores,Risk Scores,Social Risk Factors,Population at Risk,Populations at Risk,Correlates, Health,Factor, Risk,Factor, Social Risk,Factors, Social Risk,Risk Factor,Risk Factor Score,Risk Factor, Social,Risk Factors, Social,Risk Score,Score, Risk,Score, Risk Factor,Social Risk Factor