Ten-year outcome in adolescent onset anorexia nervosa

The purpose of the present study was to characterize the psychopathology measured ten years posttreatment in 51 women who had an adolescent onset of anorexia nervosa. Outcome status was determined using the modified categories of Ratnasuriya et al. [1991]. "Anorexia Nervosa: Outcome and Prognostic Factors After 20 Years," British Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 158, pp. 495-502). Psychopathology was assessed using a number of self-report questionnaires: Beck Depression Inventory, Hamilton Depression Inventory, Leyton Obsessionality Inventory, Social Adjustment Scale, and Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory. Within this adolescent age of onset sample of anorexia nervosa, age of onset was not, in and of itself associated with increased psychopathology at follow-up. Rather, severity of eating disorder outcome was associated with general psychopathology, with patients in the poor outcome group displaying elevations on several of the measures of psychopathology.