Cognitive behavioral therapy may reduce relapse risk for adults with AN after weight restoration , although its efficacy in the underweight state remains unknown .
Variants of family therapy are efficacious in adolescents , but not in adults .
Evidence for AN treatment is weak ; evidence for treatment-related harms and factors associated with efficacy of treatment are weak ; and evidence for differential outcome by sociodemographic factors is nonexistent .
OBJECTIVE The RTI International-University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Evidence -based Practice Center ( RTI-UNC EPC ) systematic ally review ed evidence on efficacy of treatment for anorexia nervosa ( AN ) , harms associated with treatments , factors associated with treatment efficacy , and differential outcome by sociodemographic characteristics .
Family and individual therapy in anorexia nervosa. A 5-year follow-up.
BACKGROUND There is evidence that specific psychological treatments are effective in patients with eating disorders . Our goal was to determine by means of a controlled trial whether psychological treatments , previously found to be effective in anorexia nervosa , gave rise to enduring benefits . METHODS A 5-year follow-up was conducted on patients who had participated in a previous trial of family therapy for anorexia and bulimia nervosa .  Family therapy or individual supportive therapy had been administered to 80 out patients for 1 year beginning on discharge from hospital after weight restoration . The 80 patients had been subdivided into 4 prognostically homogeneous groups of which 2 turned out to be the most important : patients with early onset and short history of anorexia nervosa , and patients with late-onset anorexia nervosa . At the 5-year follow-up , the efficacy of the outpatient therapies was again assessed by the maintenance of weight , and the categories of general outcome and dimensions of clinical functioning defined by the Morgan-Russell scales . RESULTS Significant improvements were found in the group of 80 patients as a whole , mainly attributable to the natural outcome of anorexia nervosa , and most evident in the early onset and short history group , as expected . Within 2 of the prognostic groups , significant benefits attributable to previous psychological treatments were still evident , favoring family therapy for patients with early onset and short history of anorexia nervosa and favoring individual supportive therapy for patients with late-onset anorexia nervosa . CONCLUSIONS Much of the improvements found at a 5-year follow-up can be attributed to the natural outcome of the illness . Nevertheless , it was still possible to detect long-term benefits of psychological therapies completed 5 years previously
Cognitive behavioral therapy may reduce relapse risk for adults with AN after weight restoration , although its efficacy in the underweight state remains unknown .
Variants of family therapy are efficacious in adolescents , but not in adults .
Evidence for AN treatment is weak ; evidence for treatment-related harms and factors associated with efficacy of treatment are weak ; and evidence for differential outcome by sociodemographic factors is nonexistent .
OBJECTIVE The RTI International-University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Evidence -based Practice Center ( RTI-UNC EPC ) systematic ally review ed evidence on efficacy of treatment for anorexia nervosa ( AN ) , harms associated with treatments , factors associated with treatment efficacy , and differential outcome by sociodemographic characteristics .