[Diagnostic validity and usefulness of the Eating Attitudes Test-26 for the assessment of eating disorders risk in a Colombian female population].

Objective: To establish diagnostic validity and usefulness of EAT-26 for the risk assessment of Eating Disorder (ED) in a female population.

Description: Observational validation study questionnaire.

Setting: Performed in a Medellin city community care level of mixed (public and private) psychiatric consultation.

Subjects: Twenty five subjects aged 15 to 25 with DSM-IV-TR diagnostic criteria for anorexia and bulimia nervosa and 111 controls without ED.

Main Outcomes Measures: The case sample was for convenience and in controls an aleatory simple one. Gold standard (structured psychiatrist interview confirming the fulfillment of ED case inclusion criteria) was compared with EAT-26 questionnaire; reliability was assessed, cultural, semantics and factorial validation was made and the best cut-off score was established with the ROC curve.

Results: Four domains remain in the instrument: bulimia, dieting, food preoccupation and oral control. The Cronbach's alpha was 92.1% and a score of 11 and over is the best cut-off (sensitivity 100%, and specificity 85.6%).

Conclusions: This modified and abbreviated EAT-26 questionnaire is an ideal multidimensional instrument for ED screening in risk population, with excellent reliability and sensitivity values and satisfactory specificity. EAT-26 is a useful measure to be considered when strategies for ED early detection are implemented in young women.