Accepted for/Published in: JMIR Formative Research
Date Submitted: Feb 14, 2023
Date Accepted: Nov 20, 2023
Prevalence of Body Dysmorphic Disorder in the Spanish population: Descriptive Study
ABSTRACT
Background:
Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is defined as an excessive preoccupation with mild or non-existent defects in personal physical appearance, which are not perceived by others. Its ethology is multifactorial and underdiagnosed. Patients with BDD have a distortion of their body perception which is associated with clinical discomfort, resorting to cosmetic procedures.
Objective:
The objective is based on the study of the prevalence of BDD in Spain as well as the identification of the variables associated with it.
Methods:
Cross-sectional descriptive study with data collection through an anonymous online survey aimed at the Spanish population over 18 years of age. Sociodemographic variables, comorbidities with dermatological, psychiatric diseases and cosmetic procedures were analyzed, as well as assessment of quality of life using the SF-12v2 health survey and of BDD using the Body Dysmorphic Disorder Questionnaire.
Results:
2091 participants, of whom 322 were diagnosed with BDD (15.2%) with a mean age of 23.5 (9.6) years and 88.2% female. Of the participants with BDD, 46.6% reported a history of psychiatric comorbidity, including anxiety disorders, depressive disorders and eating disorders. Patients with BDD showed a significantly lower mental health status than undiagnosed patients.
Conclusions:
BDD is more likely to be associated with other psychiatric illnesses. BDD appears to be a marker of patients' perception of their quality of life.
Citation
Request queued. Please wait while the file is being generated. It may take some time.
Copyright
© The authors. All rights reserved. This is a privileged document currently under peer-review/community review (or an accepted/rejected manuscript). Authors have provided JMIR Publications with an exclusive license to publish this preprint on it's website for review and ahead-of-print citation purposes only. While the final peer-reviewed paper may be licensed under a cc-by license on publication, at this stage authors and publisher expressively prohibit redistribution of this draft paper other than for review purposes.