Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2025 Apr 11;13(1):66.
doi: 10.1186/s40337-025-01254-6.

United States-based practice guidelines for children and adolescents with eating disorders : Synthesis of clinical practice guidelines

Cara Bohon  1   2 , Daniel Le Grange  3   4 , Evelyn Attia  5   6 , Neville H Golden  7 , Dori Steinberg  8
Affiliations
Review

United States-based practice guidelines for children and adolescents with eating disorders : Synthesis of clinical practice guidelines

Cara Bohon et al. J Eat Disord. .

Abstract

Introduction: Several practice guidelines exist from professional organizations in the United States to support the assessment and management of eating disorders in children and adolescents. This manuscript synthesizes the key areas of overlap from these guidelines and provides directions for future research and alignment to improve care.

Recommendations: Consistent screening for eating disorders in primary care is recommended to ensure early identification and referral to treatment. Outpatient treatment supported by families, including family based treatment, is the first line of care recommended by guidelines. Multidisciplinary treatment teams benefit patients in covering the variety of aspects of health that eating disorders impact, including mental health, nutritional health, and physical health. Patients may require hospitalization under certain medical criteria such as bradycardia or specific lab abnormalities.

Conclusions: Guidelines show consensus on the importance of early identification and treatment access, involvement of family in treatment, and the use of a multidisciplinary treatment team. However, future work is needed to guide care of Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID), as well as the impact of weight inclusive care and the development of validated screening tools for children and adolescents for all eating disorders.

Keywords: Anorexia nervosa; Avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder; Binge eating disorder; Bulimia nervosa; Eating disorders; Practice guidelines.

Plain language summary

Several professional organizations in the U.S. provide guidelines for assessing and treating eating disorders in children and adolescents. This paper highlights key areas of agreement across these guidelines and suggests future research directions.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: Not applicable. Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: CB and DS received salary and equity from Equip Health during the preparation of this manuscript. DLG is co-director of the Training Institute for Child and Adolescent Eating Disorders, LLC, receives funding and equity from Equip Health, and receives royalties from Guildford Press and Routledge. EA received equity from Equip Health. EA and NG were members of the APA Practice Guideline Writing Group and NG was an author on the SAHM Guideline.

Similar articles

See all similar articles

References

    1. Deloitte Access Economics. The Social and Economic Cost of Eating Disorders in the United States of America: A Report for the Strategic Training Initiative for the Prevention of Eating Disorders and the Academy for Eating Disorders. 2020. Accessed November 23, 2021. https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/striped/report-economic-costs-of-eating-dis...
    1. Chesney E, Goodwin GM, Fazel S. Risks of all-cause and suicide mortality in mental disorders: a meta-review. World Psychiatry. 2014;13(2):153–60. 10.1002/wps.20128. - PMC - PubMed
    1. American Psychiatric Association. Diagnostic and statistical manual of mental disorders. Fifth edition. American Psychiatric Association; 2013. 10.1176/appi.books.9780890425596.
    1. Ambwani S, Cardi V, Albano G, et al. A multicenter audit of outpatient care for adult anorexia nervosa: symptom trajectory, service use, and evidence in support of early stage versus severe and enduring classification. Int J Eat Disord. 2020;53(8):1337–48. 10.1002/eat.23246. - PubMed
    1. Austin A, Flynn M, Richards K, et al. Duration of untreated eating disorder and relationship to outcomes: A systematic review of the literature. Eur Eat Disord Rev. 2021;29(3):329–45. 10.1002/erv.2745. - PubMed