OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to clarify the current situation of students with eating disorders regarding adjustment status and their course.
METHOD: The subjects were 58 female students with eating disorders (excluding international students) who visited the Health Service Center between April 2006 and March 2016. We retrospectively examined time of onset and psychiatric comorbidities of each disease type (anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, and other specified feeding or eating disorders) and compared disease type, comorbidities, and suicidal behavior between the school truancy group and school attendance group and between the employment group and non-employment group.
RESULTS: Regarding disease type, the students with anorexia nervosa exhibited significantly more characteristics of autism spectrum (AS). The school truancy group showed significantly more depression than the school attendance group. The non-employment group showed significantly more depression and characteristics of AS than the employment group.
CONCLUSION: Early intervention for depression and support for characteristics of AS appeared to be important in students with eating disorders.