The investigators reported that the most frequent obsessive compulsive symptoms were:
- Hatred of dirt and contamination (69%).
- Worry about being clean enough (68%).
- Repetition (62%).
- Fussiness about hands (57%).
- Doing things in an exact manner (57%).
The researchers pointed out that their findings were consistent with the "severity and content" of obsessive-compulsive symptoms in Polish adolescents without anorexia, with the exception of food obsessions.
The study included a homogenous population of 120 female patients (average age 14.8, range 10.9 to 20.0) who met the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-III-R criteria for anorexia nervosa at the time of admission to a psychiatric department. They were assessed by two child psychiatrists using the self-report Leyton Obsessional Inventory-Child Version and the Kiddie-Schedule for Affective Disorders and Schizophrenia-Present and Lifetime Version. DSM-IV criteria were used to diagnose OCD.
Most patients were in their initial episode of anorexia without a long prior duration of illness (average 11.21 months). The mean body fat percentage was 12.36% and body mass index at admittance 14.62 (range 10.65 to 20.0). The decrease in body weight since anorexia onset was 25.8%.
