Teaching How to Avoid Overreliance on BMI in Diagnosing and Caring for Patients With Eating Disorders

Abstract

Physicians tend to rely on diagnostic criteria, which can influence patients' access to care by legitimizing need for care, connections to appropriate clinicians, and insurance coverage for indicated interventions. This article considers potential unintended but foreseeable negative consequences, including iatrogenic harm, of using body mass index (BMI) to distinguish typical from atypical anorexia nervosa, despite both illnesses sharing the same behaviors and complications. This article also suggests teaching strategies to help students learn to avoid overreliance on BMI in eating disorders care.