Impact of definitions on the description and prediction of bulimia nervosaoutcome

Objective: The authors sought to compare definitions of eating disorder out come found in the bulimia nervosa literature and to determine the impact of definitions on the description and prediction of outcome. Method: Definiti ons of outcome were identified from studies involving a follow-up duration of at least 5 years. Definitions were applied to a sample of women (N = 173 ) assessed more than 10 years following presentation with bulimia nervosa. Results: Across definitions, the percentage of women considered fully recov ered ranged from 38% to 47% in the follow-up sample. Associations between e ating disorder outcome and other measures of outcome were relatively unaffe cted by differences in definitions. Conversely, the significance of various prognostic variables differed substantially among definitions. Discussion: Our findings suggest that differences in definitions influence the descrip tion and prediction of eating disorder outcome significantly. Consistency i n defining recovery is needed in order to explore other areas of outcome su ch as relapse. (C) 2000 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.