Anorexia nervosa in males. A comparative study of 107 cases reported in the literature (1970 to 1980)

Vandereycken, Walter Van den Broucke, Stephan [UCL]

The relatively small number of male anorexia nervosa patients is often used as an excuse for the scarce literature on this subject. An exhaustive review of the literature (1970 to 1980), searching for case reports, yielded information about 107 males described as having anorexia nervosa. According to current criteria, the diagnosis was well documented in 37 patients. Data on the clinical picture and the social background were analysed and compared with a sample of 148 female anorectics. It was found that from the clinical point of view anorexia nervosa is strikingly similar in both sexes. A cluster analysis revealed that three subgroups might be distinguished in male cases: a '(pre)pubertal' variant, a 'lower class', and a 'middle class' variant. It is concluded that male patients should be involved in any future research on this syndrome.