Amenorrhea as a Diagnostic Criterion for Anorexia Nervosa

Amenorrhea is a current criterion for the diagnosis of anorexia nervosa (AN) according to the DSM-IV-TR. Nevertheless, when comparing groups of patients who fulfill all the criteria of this manual for AN and groups of women who show them all but amenorrhea, some studies did not find significant differences in the psychopathology typically associated with AN. The purpose of our study was to compare both groups in demographic, anthropometric, psychological and psychopathological variables. There were no statistically significant differences between both groups in the analyzed variables, but the group with amenorrhea had a significantly lower body mass index. Our data support the hypothesis that amenorrhea could not be a useful criterion for AN.