Eating disturbances in a school population of preteen girls: Assessment and screening

OBJECTIVE: To assess the utility of the Children's Eating Attitudes Test (cEAT) questionnaire in screening for interview-ascertained eating disturbances. METHOD: A total of 409 girls, 9-13 years of age, completed a cEDE interview and cEAT questionnaire. RESULTS: 14.7% of girls reported eating disturbances in the past month on the cEDE. Mean cEDE score was 0.3 +/- 0.6 and mean cEAT score was 5.9 +/- 5.9. The cEAT demonstrated low sensitivity but high specificity at a cutoff score of 20, and poor positive predictive value when lower cutoff scores were used. CONCLUSION: Eating disturbances were common but mild in this preteen group. The cEAT was not an efficient screening tool for interview-ascertained mild eating disturbances in preteen girls.