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. 2023 Feb;147(2):122-133.
doi: 10.1111/acps.13487. Epub 2022 Aug 12.

Mortality and care of eating disorders

Giovanni Castellini  1   2 , Saverio Caini  3 , Emanuele Cassioli  1 , Eleonora Rossi  1 , Giorgia Marchesoni  1 , Francesco Rotella  2 , Nora De Bonfioli Cavalcabo'  3 , Miriam Fontana  4 , Barbara Mezzani  5 , Brunetto Alterini  6 , Stefano Lucarelli  7 , Valdo Ricca  1   2
Affiliations

Mortality and care of eating disorders

Giovanni Castellini et al. Acta Psychiatr Scand. 2023 Feb.

Abstract

Introduction: Eating disorders (EDs) are considered serious mental illnesses, with one of the highest lethality among psychiatric disorders, even though the issue of mortality due to these conditions is still controversial. The present study was aimed at comparing the mortality rate in a cohort of ED patients representative of the geographic area with that of the age and gender-matched general population of central Italy.

Methods: Patients were enrolled between 1994 and 2018, among those attending the eating disorders treatment network of the Florence area (EDTN), which is a regional multidisciplinary treatment reference center for EDs covering the clinical population of the metropolitan Florence area (Italy). The life status of participants was determined through linkage with the Regional Mortality Registry.

Results: A total of 1277 individuals with EDs were included, including 368 with Anorexia Nervosa (AN), 312 with Bulimia Nervosa (BN), and 597 individuals with Binge Eating Disorder (BED). Twenty-two patients (1.72%) died, during a median follow-up of 7.4 years. The mortality rates among ED patients did not significantly differ from that of the general population of the same age and sex with a Standardized Mortality Ratio (SMR) of 1.19, 95% CI 0.79-1.81. Only among BN patients, the mortality was significantly increased after 10 years from clinical evaluation (SMR 11.24, 95% CI 3.62-34.84).

Conclusion: The low mortality in EDs, compared to published studies, might be due to the EDTN treatment strategy, based on a large network which makes an integrated multidisciplinary team available for almost all the patients with EDs of the geographical area.

Keywords: anorexia nervosa; binge eating disorder; bulimia nervosa; eating disorders; standardized mortality ratio.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

FIGURE 1
FIGURE 1
Illustration of the Tuscan eating disorders treatment network services
FIGURE 2
FIGURE 2
Survival curves grouped by diagnosis
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment in

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