A transcultural outcome study of adolescent eating disorders.

OBJECTIVE

The aim of the study was to assess the treatment and outcome of adolescent eating disorders in an international study including Western and Eastern European clinical and research centres.

METHOD: A total of 138 patients with adolescent onset of an eating disorder (primarily anorexia nervosa) were followed-up after a mean interval of 5 years after first admission.

RESULTS

On average, the patients had spent 25% of the total follow-up period in either in-patient or out-patient treatment. Half of them required a second hospitalization and a quarter required a third hospitalization for the eating disorder. At follow-up, 68% of the total sample did not have an eating disorder. The prediction of outcome revealed different patterns of risk variables depending on the type of criterion.

CONCLUSION

The outcome of adolescent eating disorders is relatively similar across cultures, and better than in patients with later onset of the disorder.