Food semantics on pro-anorexia websites in Italy.

INTRODUCTION: The term pro-ana (pro-anorexia) means the spread of restrictive eating behaviors and anorectic advices in virtual spaces written by teenagers. The purpose of this pilot study consists in a qualitative and quantitative analysis of foods contained in a linguistic corpus made up of users' comments on pro-ana websites. METHOD: The corpus of pro-ana websites was analyzed through the T2K tool based on word-frequency processing. RESULTS: The results show conversations regarding beverages, products of vegetable origin (fruit, vegetables) and low-calorie foods, with a tendency to limit the fear linked to the choice of high-calorie foods through reassuring and reconcilable language labels ("light", "sugar free"). CONCLUSIONS: These findings specify the food semantics on pro-ana websites associated to an anorectic vocabulary with restrictive diets. The results could be used to characterize the most common food as risk factors within the eating disorders framework.

Agreement between DSM-IV and DSM-5 criteria for alcohol use disorder among outpatients suffering from depressive and anxiety disorders.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Since significant differences have been reported, we estimated agreement between DSM-5 and DSM-IV criteria for alcohol use disorder (AUD). METHODS: We assessed 327 outpatients (mean age: 45.2 ± 13.4) with depressive or anxiety disorders. RESULTS: Absolute differences in prevalence rates between DSM-5 and DSM-IV AUD ranged from -1.1% (subjects with anxiety disorders) to +1.8% (tobacco smokers). The agreement was excellent (k = 0.88), also accounting for specific subgroups (relevant k coefficients >0.80). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: DSM-5 criteria did not inflate AUD rates. SCIENTIFIC SIGNIFICANCE: Our results have epidemiological significance since, unlike previous reports, we found diagnostic stability between new and old AUD criteria in this clinical population. (Am J Addict 2017;26:53-56).

Clinical utility of a single-item test for DSM-5 alcohol use disorder among outpatients with anxiety and depressive disorders.

BACKGROUND: There is a lack of studies testing accuracy of fast screening methods for alcohol use disorder in mental health settings. We aimed at estimating clinical utility of a standard single-item test for case finding and screening of DSM-5 alcohol use disorder among individuals suffering from anxiety and mood disorders. METHODS: We recruited adults consecutively referred, in a 12-month period, to an outpatient clinic for anxiety and depressive disorders. We assessed the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA) single-item test, using the Mini- International Neuropsychiatric Interview (MINI), plus an additional item of Composite International Diagnostic Interview (CIDI) for craving, as reference standard to diagnose a current DSM-5 alcohol use disorder. We estimated sensitivity and specificity of the single-item test, as well as positive and negative Clinical Utility Indexes (CUIs). RESULTS: 242 subjects with anxiety and mood disorders were included. The NIAAA single-item test showed high sensitivity (91.9%) and specificity (91.2%) for DSM-5 alcohol use disorder. The positive CUI was 0.601, whereas the negative one was 0.898, with excellent values also accounting for main individual characteristics (age, gender, diagnosis, psychological distress levels, smoking status). DISCUSSION: Testing for relevant indexes, we found an excellent clinical utility of the NIAAA single-item test for screening true negative cases. Our findings support a routine use of reliable methods for rapid screening in similar mental health settings.