Low sense of coherence in long-term follow up of adolescents with anorexia nervosa

Abstract

Background: Sense of coherence is a personal resource known to be low in eating disorders. We wanted to know if sense of coherence is still correlated to anorexia symptoms several years after initial hospitalisation for anorexia. Methods: 86 former female patients diagnosed with anorexia were contacted 5-11 years after hospitalisation in a German hospital; 68 of 149 women (46%) could be contacted and agreed to participate in a survey with the Eating Disorder Inventory (EDI-2) and the Sense of Coherence Questionnaire (SOC-13). Results: 17.6% of participants stated that they suffered from an eating disorder currently, with 7.4% having anorexia nervosa. Mean EDI-2 subscales (except for the bulimia sub-scale) were in the <40th percentile for women with anorexia. Sense of coherence was low (percentile rank 20). All EDI-2 subscales correlated negatively with the SOC-13 score (p<0.01). Conclusions: The sense of coherence is low in long-term follow up of anorexia nervosa and is correlated with on-going anorexia symptoms.