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. 2018 Mar;26(2):146-149.
doi: 10.1002/erv.2573. Epub 2017 Dec 8.

Weight Suppression But Not Symptom Improvement Predicts Weight Gain During Inpatient Treatment for Bulimia Nervosa

Johannes Baltasar Hessler  1 , Alice Diedrich  2 , Martin Greetfeld  1 , Sandra Schlegl  2 , Caroline Schwartz  2 , Ulrich Voderholzer  1   3
Affiliations

Weight Suppression But Not Symptom Improvement Predicts Weight Gain During Inpatient Treatment for Bulimia Nervosa

Johannes Baltasar Hessler et al. Eur Eat Disord Rev. 2018 Mar.

Abstract

Objective: Fear of gaining weight is a common obstacle to seeking treatment for bulimia nervosa (BN). We investigated changes in body mass index (BMI) during inpatient treatment for BN in relation to treatment outcome and weight suppression (WS).

Methods: Female inpatients of a specialized eating disorders clinic were grouped as deteriorated/unchanged, reliably improved, and clinically significantly improved based on Eating Disorder Inventory-2 scores. Repeated measures ANOVA was employed to examine changes in BMI between admission and discharge depending on treatment outcome and WS.

Results: One-hundred seventy-nine patients were included. Overall, the average BMI significantly increased by 0.54 kg/m2 (SD = 1.24). Repeated measures ANOVA revealed no association of change in BMI with treatment outcome [F(df) = 1.13 (2166), p = 0.327] but with WS [F(df) = 2.76 (3166), p < 0.044].

Discussion: Bulimia nervosa can be successfully treated without causing excessive weight gain. Patients with higher WS might expect somewhat more weight gain. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.

Keywords: body mass index; bulimia nervosa; treatment outcome; weight suppression.

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