Eating disorder diagnostics in the digital era: validation of the Norwegian version of the Eating Disorder Assessment for DSM-5 (EDA-5)

Camilla Lindvall Dahlgren; B Timothy Walsh; Karianne Vrabel; Cecilie Siegwarth; Øyvind Rø

doi:10.1186/s40337-020-00310-7

Eating disorder diagnostics in the digital era: validation of the Norwegian version of the Eating Disorder Assessment for DSM-5 (EDA-5)

J Eat Disord. 2020 Jul 9:8:30. doi: 10.1186/s40337-020-00310-7. eCollection 2020.

Authors

Camilla Lindvall Dahlgren^{1

2}, B Timothy Walsh³, Karianne Vrabel⁴, Cecilie Siegwarth¹, Øyvind Rø^{1

5}

Affiliations

¹ Regional Department for Eating Disorders, Division of Mental Health and Addiction, Oslo University Hospital, Ullevål HF, Postboks 4950 Nydalen, 0424 Oslo, Norway.
² Department of Psychology, Bjørknes University College, Oslo, Norway.
³ Department of Psychiatry, College of Physicians & Surgeons, Columbia University, New York State Psychiatric Institute, New York, USA.
⁴ Research Institute of Modum Bad, Vikersund, Norway.
⁵ Institute of Clinical Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo, Norway.

Abstract

Objective: The Eating Disorder Assessment for DSM-5 (EDA-5) is an electronic, semi-structured interview developed to assess feeding and eating disorders following DSM-5 criteria. The original English version has strong psychometric properties, and previous research has shown high rates of agreement between diagnoses generated by the Eating Disorder Examination (EDE) interview and the EDA-5. The current study aimed to validate the Norwegian version of the EDA-5, and is the first international validation of this diagnostic tool.

Method: A total of 91 (87 females and 4 males) adult in- and out-patients were recruited from two of the largest eating disorder clinics in Norway. Diagnoses assigned using the EDA-5 were compared to diagnoses from the EDE interview (v. 17.0D).

Results: Results showed that diagnoses assigned using EDE and EDA-5 were identical for 75 (82.4%) of the 91 cases. Among individual diagnostic categories, kappas ranged from moderate (.49) to perfect (1.00) agreement. The majority of discrepant cases occurred between full- and sub-threshold AN and BN. The EDA-5 was significantly quicker to administer compared to the EDE (22 vs. 54 min).

Conclusions: The Norwegian EDA-5 can quickly and efficiently generate DSM-5 diagnoses without compromising diagnostic accuracy. It is a promising alternative to existing diagnostic tools, and may help streamline the identification of feeding and eating disorders in clinical settings and in research.

Keywords: Assessment; DSM-5; Diagnosis; EDA-5; EDE 17.0D; Eating disorders; Feeding disorders; Interview.