Mortality and causes of death in eating disorders in Denmark 1970-1993: a case register study.
OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study is to describe mortality rates and causes of death for patients with eating disorders.


METHODS
By means of record-linkage, the study includes all patients admitted and diagnosed as suffering from an eating disorder according to the ICD-8 classification system during the period 1970-1993 at any Danish psychiatric (since 1970) or somatic department (since 1977). The study includes 2,763 cases, of which 237 are males. Maximum follow-up time is 23 years and mean follow-up time is 10.3 years.


RESULTS
Crude mortality at follow-up is 8.4%. A significant excess mortality is demonstrated since the standardized mortality ratio (SMR) of the total patient population is 6.69 (CI 5.68-7.83) and the highest rate ratio (RR) of 14.92 (CI 9.66-22.03) relates to women aged 25-29.


CONCLUSIONS
The study documents a significant excess mortality among eating-disordered patients.
Emborg
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Department of Psychiatric Demography, Aarhus University Hospital, Risskov, Denmark.
D000059:Accidents / Q000401:mortality; D000328:Adult; D017677:Age Distribution; D000368:Aged; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000401:mortality; D002423:Cause of Death; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003718:Denmark / Q000453:epidemiology; D001068:Feeding and Eating Disorders / Q000401:mortality*; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006708:Homicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008498:Medical Record Linkage; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D017678:Sex Distribution; D013405:Suicide / Q000706:statistics & numerical data