Abstract

BERNER, Enrique; PINERO, Julia  and  VALENTE, Shirley. Trastornos de la conducta alimentaria: signos clínicos en pacientes adolescentes con episodios de vómitos autoinducidos. Arch. argent. pediatr. [online]. 2004, vol.102, n.6, pp.440-444. ISSN 0325-0075.

Eating disorders are a social and health problem with a high impact and high incidence in the adolescent population. The aim of this study was to assess some of the clinical findings seen in adolescents who vomit in order to control their weight. Population, material and methods. 70 patients were included in this study, 66 girls and 4 boys, with a mean age of 17.3 ± 2 years old. They attended to the adolescence unit of the Hospital General de Agudos C. Argerich. Patients were treated by an interdisciplinary team constituted by clinical physicians, nutritionists, dentist, social worker, and psychologists of the Psychopathology unit. We assessed the following variables: age, history of illness, Russell sign, hypertrophy of salivary glands, erosion and dental caries related with the psychopathologic diagnosis of the disease. Data were processed by SPSS version 6. Results. 60% of the cases revealed self-induced vomiting episodes, and 40% of the cases revealed no purging. History of illness in the purging behavior group showed a range of 30.8 ±3.4 months vs. 20.8 ± 1.9 in the other group (p<0.05). 4.76% of the cases had a positive Russell sign and hypertrophy of salivary glands was observed in 9.53% of cases. 33% of the purging behavior girls had grade 1 dental erosion (limited to the enamel). Data related to caries index DMFT-DMFS (decay, missing, filled) showed more susceptibility in the group of patients with self-induced vomiting (p< 0.01). Conclusions. Patients with self-induced vomiting consulted later. Clinical signs of the disease, as Russell´s sign, parotid glands hypertrophy and dental erosions, were observed. Irreversible loss of dental tissues because of erosion was clinically mild (grade 1). Adolescents with vomiting had significantly higher caries prevalence than those without them.

Keywords : Eating disorders; Adolescence; Vomiting; Russell’s sign; Salivary glands swelling; Dental erosion.

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