The high prevalence of eating disorders in Arab countries indicates a need for an Arabic language screening tool. This study aimed to validate an Arabic version (A-SCOFF) of the British SCOFF questionnaire, a brief tool for the screening of eating disorders in primary health care. After translation and back-translation the A-SCOFF was given to 123 female patients [mean age 32 (SD 8.8) years] visiting primary health-care centres in Beirut. Each patient was evaluated by an eating disorders specialist blinded to A-SCOFF results. The validated Arabic version of the Mini International Neuropsychiatric Interview and the DSM-IV criteria for eating disorders were used as diagnostic references. The best diagnostic threshold for the A-SCOFF was found to be at 2 positive answers with a sensitivity of 80.0%, a specificity of 72.7% and an area under the curve of 80.0%. The A-SCOFF questionnaire is accurate and reliable for the early detection of eating disorders in this high-risk population.

Aoun A, Azzam J, Jabbour FE, Hlais S, Daham D, Amm CE, et al. Validation of the Arabic version of the SCOFF questionnaire for the screening of eating disorders. Eastern Mediterranean health journal = La revue de sante de la Mediterranee orientale = al-Maj

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26343121