[Eating disorders in adolescents in East and West Berlin in the 80's]

Data collected in the 1980's, before the reunification of Germany, and comparing 39 patients in former East Berlin and 60 patients in former West Berlin are presented in this second report on the Berlin longitudinal study of eating disorders in adolescence. The clinical profiles of patients of former East Berlin were found to differ from those of their West Berlin counterparts in the following assessed measures: younger age at disease onset and at admission for inpatient treatment; greater number of siblings; fewer accounts of the clinical symptoms lanugo, bradycardia, hypothermia, constipation; lower rate of premorbid psychopathological features; lower number of psychopathological findings; less frequent sibling rivalry; lower rate of psychopathological attributes among the siblings; lower incidence of maternal mental and physical illness; higher parental educational status; fewer number of complaints, and better sense of well-being.