Medscape (7/27, Brauser) reported, “Patients with an eating disorder of any type have a significantly increased risk for death, but anorexia nervosa appears to be particularly deadly and linked to the highest mortality and suicide rates,” according to a meta-analysispublished in the July issue of the Archives of General Psychiatry.
After examining the results of some 36 studies, the researchers found “similarly elevated mortality rates” for those with “bulimia nervosa and eating disorders not otherwise specified (EDNOS).” But, the rate was “even higher for those with anorexia nervosa, with a weighted annual rate of five deaths per 1,000 person-years.” Moreover, one in five of those who died, “did so by committing suicide.”