Late adolescent outcome of early onset anorexia nervosa

Forty-three young female patients admitted consecutively to hospital with anorexia nervosa (AN) were re-evaluated in late adolescence an average of 4.3 years following initial presentation. Follow-up interviews were conducted individually by a paediatrician and a psychiatrist on 32 of the original 43 patients (mean age 18.3 years) with outcome assessed by multidimensional physical, menstrual, eating behaviour, psychosocial and global outcome criteria. Physical outcome, as assessed by validated indices of body adiposity, was within the normal range (3-97th percentiles) in 94% of the 32 patients seen at follow-up, although only 56% reported regular cyclical menstrual function. Good physical outcome, however, was not necessarily predictive of successful adjustment in other areas. Eating behaviour was unequivocally normal in only 25% of patients, with a majority still dieting, binging or vomiting with meals, Psychosocial adjustment was satisfactory in the majority of cases but varied widely. Univariate and multivariate statistical analysis identified higher premorbid and admission body mass index (BMI) percentiles, a family history of obesity and shorter duration of illness on admission as significant prognostic indicators of favourable physical outcome. Although girls who develop AN in early adolescence are generally thought to have a favourable long-term prognosis, health professionals need to be aware that these patients form a heterogeneous group and may have considerable ongoing physiologic and psychologic disturbance despite normalization of body mass.