Abstract
Background: Low body weight is considered to be an important risk factor for poor outcome in anorexia nervosa (AN). Objectives: To study the relationship between body mass index (BMI) at the beginning of treatment and at follow-up. A BMI of 13 kg/m2 at admission was hypothesized as cut-off point for better versus worse evolution of weight after treatment. Method: The BMI of 232 female AN inpatients was calculated at admission and after 6 months and 1 year. Results: An overall low correlation between BMI at admission and at 6 months (r =0.27) and 1 year (r =0.26) follow-up was found. A BMI value of 15 kg/m2 at admission was revealed as the best cut-off point for making predictions. Conclusions: Patients with an admission BMI below 15 kg/m2 have a significantly greater chance to develop a lower BMI value at follow-up than those with a higher BMI.
References
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Pintér, O., Probst, M., Vandereycken, W. et al. The predictive value of body mass index for the weight evolution in anorexia nervosa. Eat Weight Disord 9, 232–235 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03325073
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03325073