title: Elevated pre-morbid weights in bulimic individuals are usually surpassed post-morbidly: implications for perpetuation of the disorder.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To determine how often patients diagnosed with bulimia nervosa (BN) surpass their highest pre-morbid weight during the course of their disorder.
  
  
  METHODS
  The weight histories of individuals with BN were determined using retrospective weight data (Study 1) and combined retrospective/prospective data (Study 2).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Retrospective analyses indicated that 59.0% (n = 46) and 61.8% (n = 110), respectively, reported that their highest weight was reached after developing BN. In Study 2, 35.3% of participants superseded their highest pre-enrollment weights during 8 years of follow-up, and 71.6% reached a post-morbid highest weight before remission. Across studies, the primary difference between patients who did and did not reach their highest weight post-morbidly was that those who did had an earlier age of onset and longer duration of BN.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Findings are discussed in terms of possible links between BN and weight-gain proneness, weight fluctuation across the course of BN, and implications for treating BN.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Jena A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Shaw
authors.forename: David B
authors.initials: DB
authors.lastname: Herzog
authors.forename: Vicki L
authors.initials: VL
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.forename: Laura A
authors.initials: LA
authors.lastname: Berner
authors.forename: Kamryn T
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Eddy
authors.forename: Debra L
authors.initials: DL
authors.lastname: Franko
authors.forename: Michael R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Lowe
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D001835:Body Weight / Q000502:physiology*; D052018:Bulimia Nervosa / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology / Q000628:therapy; D015928:Cognitive Behavioral Therapy; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016896:Treatment Outcome