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 estimate the
mortality associated with anorexia nervosa over time. RESULTS: The crude
rate of mortality due to all causes of death for subjects 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 estimated
mortality rate for subjects with anorexia nervosa is substantially greater
than that reported for female psychiatric inpatients and for the general
population.
Abstract Teaser