Specialized treatment reduces mortality.
Patients with BN demonstrate a better recovery rate if they receive treatment early in their illness. The course of recovery is uneven, with a decline during the 2 years after intensive inpatient treatment, then later improvement and stabilization. Irreversible risks are growth retardation, pubertal delay or arrest, impaired acquisition of peak bone mass, increased risk of osteoporosis. Prepubertal patients may have arrested sexual maturity and growth failure. Despite normal weights a bulimic starving and severely malnourished.