Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 23, 2026

A Computer-Based Platform for Aiding Clinicians in Eating Disorder Analysis and Diagnosis
Published on: May 10, 2022
Screening for binge eating disorders using the Patient Health Questionnaire in a community sample
Ruth H Striegel-Moore1, Nancy Perrin, Lynn DeBar
1Department of Psychology, Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut 06459-0408, USA. rstriegel@wesleyan.edu
Objective:
To examine the operating characteristics of the Patient Health Questionnaire eating disorder module (PHQ-ED) for identifying bulimia nervosa/binge eating disorder (BN/BED) or recurrent binge eating (RBE) in a community sample and to compare true positive (TP) versus false positive (FP) cases on clinical validators.
Method:
Two hundred and fifty-nine screen-positive individuals and a random sample of 89 screen negative cases completed a diagnostic interview. Sensitivity, specificity, and positive predictive value (PPV) were calculated. TP and FP cases were compared using t-tests and Chi-square tests.
Results:
The PHQ-ED had high sensitivity (100%) and specificity (92%) for detecting BN/BED or RBE, but PPV was low (10 or 19%). TP and FP cases did not differ significantly on frequency of subjective bulimic episodes, objective overeating, restraint, on BMI, and on self-rated health.
Discussion:
The PHQ-ED is recommended for use in large populations only in conjunction with follow-up questions to rule out cases without objective bulimic episodes.
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