CPG for Eating Disorders

to help them cope with the situation and to make them aware that positive changes in the familyroutine must be made (for example, strengthen the patient’s maturation, autonomy andresponsibility processes, by establishing rules and guidelines adjusted to the child’s age, stimulatethe expression of both positive and negative feelings). The patient information elaborated for thisCPG can be useful (See Annex 3.1.).Eating Disorders in AdultsWhen faced with potential cases of eating disorders in adults, clinical history questionsshould be adapted to a conventional interview with an adult, who is responsible for his/her actsand decisions, who meets with the health care professional alone most of the time, and wherehe/she usually prefers the family not to be involved.The adult patient’s economic independence enables easier access to harmful or toxic drugs,which is why the patient’s personal toxicopharmacological background must be emphasised inorder to detect abuse or misuse of substances.In these cases, it is also more likely to find work-related, economic or social problems asmaintaining factors or, sometimes, as eating disorder triggers.It is important to highlight that there are also thin, non-pathological constitutions that arewell-adjusted to development.Physical explorationPhysical exploration is less useful than anamnesis in establishing diagnosis. However,complete physical exploration is crucial and must be aimed at assessing the patient’s nutritionalstate and detecting possible secondary physical complications resulting from dietary restraintsand/or purging behaviour that would determine the intervention of other specialists or not.Data corresponding to vital signs (heart rate, blood pressure, axillary temperature andrespiratory rhythm) will be collected; in patients with a certain degree of malnutrition these signswill be in the lower limits. For weight and size, the BMI (BMI=weight kg/size m 2 ) will bedetermined. If the BMI is >25 it is considered overweight; if it is between 25-18.5 is considerednormal, and if it is