Comorbidity of DSM-III-R axis I and II disorders among female inpatients with eating disorders

Structured diagnostic interviews were used to determine DSM-III-R axis I and II diagnoses among 136 female psychiatric inpatients. To distinguish comorbidity of eating disorders with axis I and II disorders from simple diagnostic overlap, the frequency and distribution of diagnoses among the 31 patients with an eating disorder and the 105 without an eating disorder were compared. Social phobia, substance use disorders, borderline personality disorder, and avoidant personality disorder were diagnosed in a significantly larger proportion of the group with eating disorders. Future studies should focus on interpreting the meaning of the co-occurrence of these disorders in patients with eating disorders.