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Ten-year follow-up of anorexia nervosa: clinical course and outcome

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

E. D. Eckert ,
K. A. Halmi ,
P. Marchi ,
W. Grove  and
R. Crosby
E. D. Eckert*
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Department of Psychiatry, Cornell University Medical College, New York Hospital—Westchester Division, the Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, USA
K. A. Halmi
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Department of Psychiatry, Cornell University Medical College, New York Hospital—Westchester Division, the Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, USA
P. Marchi
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Department of Psychiatry, Cornell University Medical College, New York Hospital—Westchester Division, the Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, USA
W. Grove
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Department of Psychiatry, Cornell University Medical College, New York Hospital—Westchester Division, the Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, USA
R. Crosby
Affiliation:
Departments of Psychiatry and Psychology, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, Minnesota; Department of Psychiatry, Cornell University Medical College, New York Hospital—Westchester Division, the Department of Psychology, New York University, New York, USA
*
1Address for correspondence: Dr Elke D. Eckert, Box 393 Mayo Building, University of Minnesota Hospitals, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55455, USA.
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Synopsis

The clinical course and outcome of anorexia nervosa are presented in a 10-year followup study of 76 severely ill females with anorexia nervosa who met specific diagnostic criteria and had participated in a well-documented hospital treatment study. Information was obtained on 100% of the subjects. A comprehensive assessment was made in 93% of the living subjects in specific categories of weight, eating and weight control behaviours, menstrual function, anorexic attitudes, and psychological, sexual, social and vocational adjustment. Five subjects had died, which gives a crude mortality rate of 6·6%. Standardized mortality rates demonstrated an almost 13-fold increase in mortality in the anorexia nervosa subjects. Only eighteen (23·7%) were fully recovered. Sixty-four per cent developed binge-eating at some time during their illness, 57% at least weekly. Twenty-nine (41%) were still bulimic at follow-up. The high frequency and chronicity of the bulimic symptoms plus the high rate of weight relapse (42% during the first year after hospital treatment) suggest that intensive intervention is needed to help anorexics restore and maintain their weight within a normal range and to decrease abnormal eating and weight control behaviours.

Type
Research Article
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 25 , Issue 1 , January 1995 , pp. 143 - 156
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

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