Abstract
BackgroundThe aim of the present study was to provide benchmark data on the duration of treatment required to restore body weight (to BMI ≥18.5 or a corresponding BMI centile) in adolescents and adults with anorexia nervosa treated with outpatient cognitive behaviour therapy.MethodsNinety-five participants (46 adolescents and 49 adults) were recruited from consecutive referrals to a specialist eating disorder clinic. Each was offered 40 sessions of enhanced cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT-E) over 40 weeks, the conventional length of this treatment.ResultsTwenty-nine (63.1%) of the adolescents and 32 (65.3%) of the adults completed all 40 sessions of treatment (P = 0.818). Significantly more adolescents reached the goal BMI than adults (65.3% vs. 36.5%; P = 0.003). The mean time required by the adolescents to restore body weight was about 15 weeks less than that for the adults (14.8 (SE = 1.7) weeks vs. 28.3 (SE = 2.0) weeks, log-rank = 21.5, P < 0.001).ConclusionsThe findings indicate that adolescent patients receiving CBT-E are able to regain weight more successfully than adults and at a faster rate. If these findings are replicated and extend to eating disorder psychopathology, then their treatment could be shorter than that of adults.
Highlights
The aim of the present study was to provide benchmark data on the duration of treatment required to restore body weight in adolescents and adults with anorexia nervosa treated with outpatient cognitive behaviour therapy
No significant differences were found between the completers and noncompleters on demographic and baseline clinical characteristics
Eating disorder and general psychopathology significantly improved, as described in the two previous papers [14,13], with there being no differences between the adults and adolescents at the end of treatment (mean global EDE-Q: 1.8 (SD = 1.7) vs 1.5 (SD = 1.5), respectively P = 0.365; mean SCL-90 Global Severity Index (GSI): 0.9 (SD = 0.7) vs 0.7 (SD = 0.6), respectively P = 0.139)
Summary
The aim of the present study was to provide benchmark data on the duration of treatment required to restore body weight (to BMI ≥18.5 or a corresponding BMI centile) in adolescents and adults with anorexia nervosa treated with outpatient cognitive behaviour therapy. Anorexia nervosa is difficult to study [2,3,4,5,6] because is relatively rare, associated with medical risks, and may require a lengthy duration of treatment These difficulties have led to the recommendation that new treatments should be extensively tested prior to being evaluated in randomized controlled trials [2,3,4,5,6]. There are data from randomized control trials supporting its use in Purpose The aim of the present study was to obtain benchmark data on the duration of treatment required to restore body weight in adolescents and adults with anorexia nervosa treated with outpatient CBT-E
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