Latent Classes of Women Undergoing Inpatient Eating Disorder Treatment

Abstract

This study accounted for patterns of eating disorder (ED) psychopathology, bingeing, and vomiting using latent ED classes. A latent profile analysis was conducted using Eating Disorder Inventory scores of 2,247 females undergoing inpatient ED treatment at a specialized facility as indicators of latent profile (or class) membership. The model then incorporated DSM-IV ED diagnoses, ED correlates and psychiatric comorbidities, including obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) and substance abuse, as predictors of latent class membership. Information criteria and likelihood ratio tests indicated a four-class solution: (1) restricting anorexia nervosa, characterized by low BMI and OCD; (2) atypical anorexia characterized by non-eating disorder levels of drive for thinness and low comorbidity; (3) bulimia characterized by OCD; and (4) bulimia characterized by high ED and comorbid psychopathology and longer illness duration. Substance abuse did not predict class membership. Findings support a broad distinction between restricting and bulimic syndromes and emphasize the relatively large prevalence of an atypical anorexia class.