Premium
Why are we waiting? The relationship between low admission weight and end of treatment weight outcomes
Author(s) -
Sly Richard,
Bamford Bryony
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
european eating disorders review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.511
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1099-0968
pISSN - 1072-4133
DOI - 10.1002/erv.1061
Subject(s) - anorexia nervosa , eating disorders , weight gain , medicine , body mass index , hospital admission , pediatrics , hospital discharge , weight loss , partial hospitalization , body weight , psychiatry , obesity , intensive care medicine , mental health
Abstract Inpatient eating disorder units are increasingly being asked to admit patients at lower BMI's, often delaying hospital treatment until medically unavoidable. This paper aims to explore the impact of this trend on treatment outcome. Eighty‐two adults with anorexia nervosa admitted to a national inpatient eating disorder ward were assessed for BMI at admission, length of hospitalisation, discharge BMI and re‐admission within 1‐year post‐treatment. In the current study, admission BMI was unrelated to amount of weight gain during treatment or to length of hospital stay. As such patients admitted at lower BMI's had significantly lower BMI's on discharge from treatment. Low admission BMI's were related to significantly higher likelihoods of re‐admission within 1 year. This study provides strong evidence for the benefit of early treatment episodes and with more successful treatment outcomes being related to higher weights at start of treatment. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and Eating Disorders Association.