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Despite advances in treatment, eating disorders remain a clinical challenge. These researchers examined mortality rates in a meta-analysis of 36 longitudinal studies (mean follow-up, 13 years) involving 12,808 patients with anorexia nervosa (AN), bulimia nervosa (BN), or eating disorders not otherwise specified (EDNOS, a heterogeneous group of patients with eating disorders that do not meet full criteria for AN or BN).
Mortality was greater in patients with all eating disorders compared with the reference populations (standardized mortality ratios: AN, 5.86; BN, 1.93; EDNOS, 1.92), although the calculation for EDNOS was based on only four studies. In the 35 studies with data on AN, older age at first presentation was the only predictor of mo…