MORTALITY IN ANOREXIA-NERVOSA

Objective: The author's goal was to shed light on the debate regarding the mortality rate over time associated with anorexia nervosa. Method : He conducted a meta-analytic study using weighted linear regression to combine crude mortality proportions from 42 published studies to es timate the mortality associated with anorexia nervosa over time. Resul ts: The crude rate of mortality due to all causes of death for subject s with anorexia nervosa in these studies was 5.9% (178 deaths in 3,006 subjects). The aggregate mortality rate was estimated to be 0.56% per year, or approximately 5.6% per decade. Conclusions: The aggregate es timated mortality rate for subjects with anorexia nervosa is substanti ally greater than that reported for female psychiatric inpatients and for the general population.