Eating disorders, substance use disorders and major depression in the Canadian population

Background: Significant associations between eating disorders (ED) and each of substance use disorders (SUD) and major depression (NLD) have been established. Aims: To examine the comorbidity of all three disorders in a large nationally representative sample of Canadian men and women. Methods: This research used data collected by Statistics Canada in cycle 1.2 of the Canadian Community Health Survey (20,211 women and 16,773 men). Results: MD fully mediated the relationship between ED and alcohol dependence and partially mediated their relationship with alcohol interference for both men and women. The multivariate comorbidity of MD and illicit drug use exhibited different patterns for men and women with eating disorders symptomatology. Conclusion: Findings support the importance of developing assessment instruments and treatment strategies that address the co-occurrence of ED, MD and SUD for both women and men. Findings also indicate that it might be beneficial for prevention programs to target depression.