SCOFF Eating Disorder Screening
5 questions to screen for possible eating disorders
Five quick questions to screen for possible eating disorders — no diagnosis, just a signal to check further.
About This Screen
Eating disorders are easy to miss — people who have them often hide their habits well, and the physical signs take time to show up. The SCOFF questionnaire was designed by Morgan, Reid, and Lacey (1999) as a five‑question screen that primary care doctors could use when they suspected something was off.
The name is an acronym: Sick, Control, One stone, Fat, Food. Each question maps to a different aspect of disordered eating. Answering "yes" to two or more means the screen is positive — not a diagnosis, just a signal worth following up on.
The original validation was done with women who had anorexia or bulimia, and it performed well. Since then it has been studied in broader populations, including men and atypical eating disorders. The sensitivity at the cutoff of 2 is close to 100% in the original study — meaning it rarely misses someone who actually has a problem. The trade-off is false positives.
What It Covers
- Vomiting — do you make yourself sick after eating?
- Loss of control — do you feel you can't stop eating?
- Weight loss — have you dropped a significant amount recently?
- Body image — do you see yourself as fat when others say you're thin?
- Preoccupation — does food dominate your life?
A Few Caveats
No screening tool is perfect. The SCOFF has a low positive predictive value in general populations — most people who screen positive won't actually have a diagnosed eating disorder. But that's by design: it's meant to cast a wide net, not to replace a full assessment.
If your score is 0 or 1, it's unlikely you have a clinical eating disorder based on this screen. If you're still worried about your relationship with food or your body, that's valid — screens miss things, and your own sense of what's going on matters.
If your score is 2 or higher, the responsible next step is to talk to a healthcare professional who can do a proper evaluation. Eating disorders are treatable, and the sooner you catch them, the better the outcomes.
*SCOFF is a screening tool, not a diagnostic instrument. If you are in crisis or need immediate support, please reach out to a mental health professional or helpline in your region.*
Result Interpretation
After completing the 5 questions, you'll receive an immediate, detailed report with:
- Your score — calculated automatically based on your responses
- Score interpretation — what your score means in practical terms
- Context — how your results compare to general population norms where available
All results are displayed on screen. No account or login needed.