Objective To see whether patients with eating disorders consult general practitioners more frequently than control subjects and, if so, to describe the pattern of consultation. Method: General practitioner case record review of patients with anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, and partial syndromes referred to a specialist eating disorder service. Results: Seventy‐eight of 100 case records were available for analysis. Eating disorder patients consulted significantly more frequently than controls over 5 years prior to the diagnosis of the eating disorder. They presented to the general practitioners with a variety of symptoms including psychological, gastrointestinal, and gynecological complaints. Discussion: The findings suggest that methods could be developed to enable earlier diagnosis of eating disorders in general practice. This will enable the earlier application of effective treatments with the prospect of improved outcome. © 1997 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Int J Eat Disord 22: 89–93, 1997.

This provides further evidence that birth dates of anorexics peak in the late spring and early summer. There are parallels with the epidemiology of schizophrenia. The evidence suggests that a seasonally fluctuating factor, most plausibly an intrauterine effect of common infectious agents during the winter months, is of etiological significance.

Anorexia nervosa is associated with increased risk of premature death. It is possible that death rates could be reduced by early diagnosis and by long-term specialist care.

Mothers with a history of AN are at increased risk of adverse pregnancy outcomes. The magnitude of these risks is relatively small and should be appraised holistically by psychiatric and obstetric services.

No abstract