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Relationship of sex to symptom severity, psychiatric comorbidity, and health care utilization in 163 subjects with borderline personality disorder
Journal article   Peer reviewed

Relationship of sex to symptom severity, psychiatric comorbidity, and health care utilization in 163 subjects with borderline personality disorder

Brett McCormick, Nancee Blum, Rebecca Hansel, Jo Ann Franklin, Don St John, Bruce Pfohl, Jeff Allen and Donald W Black
Comprehensive psychiatry, Vol.48(5), pp.406-412
09/2007
DOI: 10.1016/j.comppsych.2007.05.005
PMID: 17707247
url
https://doaj.org/article/5473708c4f0642f9840ca251f0694d4dView
Open Access

Abstract

The objective of the study was to compare symptom severity, frequency, and pattern of psychiatric comorbidity, quality of life, and health care utilization in men and women with borderline personality disorder (BPD). The analysis is based on a sample of 163 subjects with Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition BPD recruited for participation in a clinical trial at an academic medical center. Subjects were administered structured interviews and questionnaires of known reliability. Men (n = 25) and women (n = 138) with BPD were compared across multiple domains. Men were significantly older than women (34.5 vs 30.4 years), but subjects were otherwise similar in their demographic characteristics. Overall syndrome severity and frequency of past suicide attempts and self-harm behaviors were also similar. Women were more likely than men to have an anxiety disorder (particularly generalized anxiety disorder), somatoform disorders, and histrionic personality disorder. Antisocial personality disorder was more common in men. Women had higher dimensional ratings of depression, anxiety, obsessive-compulsiveness, work dysfunction, and negative affectivity; they were also more likely to endorse the "paranoia/dissociation" BPD criterion. On the Short Form-36 Health Survey, women reported significantly worse emotional role, social role, and mental health functioning than men. Contrary to expectation, there were no significant cross sex differences in the use of health care resources. Men and women with BPD show important differences in their pattern of psychiatric comorbidity, dimensional symptom ratings, and in quality of life variables. Women have more negative views of themselves, and worse overall emotional and social role functioning. Implications for clinicians and researchers are discussed.
Prevalence Humans Male Psychotic Disorders - therapy Borderline Personality Disorder - epidemiology Borderline Personality Disorder - diagnosis Schizophrenia - diagnosis Substance-Related Disorders - epidemiology Adult Female Iowa - epidemiology Borderline Personality Disorder - therapy Substance-Related Disorders - diagnosis Severity of Illness Index Psychotic Disorders - diagnosis Cognition Disorders - physiopathology Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders Schizophrenia - therapy Psychotic Disorders - epidemiology Substance-Related Disorders - therapy Schizophrenia - epidemiology Neuropsychological Tests Cognition Disorders - diagnosis Catchment Area (Health) Sex Distribution Mental Health Services - utilization Cognition Disorders - epidemiology

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