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A brief examination of treatment outcomes in higher levels of care for individuals with eating disorders across age groups.

Rienecke RD, Mehler PS, Duffy A, Le Grange D, Blalock DV. A brief examination of treatment outcomes in higher levels of care for individuals with eating disorders across age groups. European eating disorders review : the journal of the Eating Disorders Association. 2023 Nov 27.

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Abstract:

OBJECTIVE: Although eating disorders (EDs) occur throughout the lifespan, little research has been conducted with midlife/older adults, particularly those in higher levels of care (HLOC). The current study examined outcomes among 2009 patients with EDs receiving HLOC treatment at a large multisite facility between January 2020 and June 2022, across different age groups (ages < 18, 18-25, 26-39 and = 40). It was hypothesised that patients aged 40+ would exhibit less improvement on measures of ED psychopathology and depression than other age groups. METHOD: Participants completed the eating disorder examination-questionnaire (EDE-Q) and the patient health questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9) at admission and discharge. RESULTS: Changes for all outcomes from admission to discharge were statistically significant at p  <  0.001 across all age groups. Changes in the EDE-Q Restraint subscale were significantly less in patients ages 26-39 than in patients ages 18-25 (p  <  0.01). Changes in PHQ-9 were significantly greater in patients ages 40+ than patients ages 18-25 (p  =  0.03). CONCLUSIONS: Contrary to hypotheses, patients ages 40+ did not show worse outcomes than younger patients, and showed greater improvements in depression than young adults. The therapeutic needs of midlife/older adults with EDs may be favourably met by a HLOC regimen as described in this study.




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