Dropout from inpatient treatment for anorexia nervosa: Critical review of the literature

Jenny Wallier, Sarah Vibert, Sylvie Berthoz, Caroline Huas, Tamara Hubert, Nathalie Godart
Int. J. Eat. Disord.. 2009-11-01; 42(7): 636-647
DOI: 10.1002/eat.20609

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1. Int J Eat Disord. 2009 Nov;42(7):636-47. doi: 10.1002/eat.20609.

Dropout from inpatient treatment for anorexia nervosa: critical review of the
literature.

Wallier J(1), Vibert S, Berthoz S, Huas C, Hubert T, Godart N.

Author information:
(1)Department of Psychiatry, Institut Mutualiste Montsouris, Paris, France.

OBJECTIVE: High dropout rates from inpatient treatment for Anorexia Nervosa (AN)
pose a serious obstacle to successful treatment. Because dropping out of
inpatient treatment may have a negative impact on outcome, it is important to
understand why dropout occurs so that treatment can be targeted toward keeping
patients in care. We therefore conducted a critical literature review of studies
on dropout from inpatient treatment for AN.
METHOD: Searches of Medline and PsycINFO revealed nine articles on this subject.
Two were excluded because they did not differentiate AN from other eating
disorders in analyses.
RESULTS: Results were scarce and conflicting, with methodological issues
complicating comparisons. Weight on admission, AN subtype, eating disorder
symptoms, greater psychiatric difficulty in general, and the absence of
depression were related to dropout in multivariate analyses.
DISCUSSION: Authors should use a common definition of dropout and continue
research on the identified predictors as well as potential predictors such as
impulsivity and family factors.

DOI: 10.1002/eat.20609
PMID: 19208386 [Indexed for MEDLINE]

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