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Survival Rates of Anorexia Same as Rest of Population
Researchers from the Mayo Clinic published a study that suggested that although anorexia nervosa can be a life threatening disorder, the survival rates for patients diagnosed with anorexia do not differ from the expected rates of individuals of similar age and gender. 208 Rochester Minnesota residents who presented with anorexia nervosa (193 women and 15 men) for the first time from 1935 through 1989 were monitored for up to 63 years. Subsequent survival was compared with that expected for Minnesota white residents of similar age and sex, and standardized mortality ratios were determined on the basis of age- and sex-specific death rates for the US population in 1987.
The study points out that anorexia nervosa is a serious, often recurrent, and potentially fatal illness that has been increasing in frequency among young females. Although previous studies suggest that a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa implies a severe negative effect on survival, we found that survival in our population-based cohort of patients did not differ from that expected. This probably relates to the relatively mild disease expressed by these unselected community patients, few of whom were hospitalized or treated in a specialized outpatient center and most of whom eventually recovered.
The researchers warn that “although our data suggest that overall mortality is not increased among community patients with anorexia nervosa in general, these findings should not lead to complacency in clinical practice because deaths do occur.” They also point out that more research is needed in general and to evaluate if there is a suggested association between suicide and alcoholism in patients with anorexia nervosa.
Mayo Clinic Proceedings
8:47:48 PM 
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