title: Long-term outcome in anorexia nervosa in the community.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Few studies have assessed outcomes of anorexia nervosa (AN) outside clinical settings. We aimed to assess mortality, recovery, and socio-demographic outcomes of AN in a community sample.
  
  
  METHODS
  Women in the nationwide FinnTwin16 cohort (born 1975-1979) were followed for 10 years after baseline diagnostic assessment (mean age at follow-up 34 years, N = 2188). We compared women with lifetime DSM-IV AN (N = 40) with unaffected women from the same cohort.
  
  
  RESULTS
  None of the women with AN had died and 88% were weight-recovered (BMI ≥ 18.5 kg/m(2) ), but their mean BMI (22.0 kg/m(2) ) was lower than among unaffected women (24.0 kg/m(2) , p = 0.008). University degrees (38 vs. 29%, p = 0.26), sickness absence during the past year (median 5 vs. 3 days, p = 0.21), or unemployment or disability pension (5 vs. 4%, p = 0.62) did not significantly differ between AN probands and their unaffected peers. More women with AN were still studying (15 vs. 4%, p = 0.003), and half of them had children, as compared to 66% of unaffected women (p = 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The long-term prognosis of AN in the community appears promising. Weight-restoration is common and socio-demographic outcomes are generally favorable. However, women with a history of AN may be less likely to have children.
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Finland.|Departments of Psychiatry and Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
authors.forename: Linda
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Mustelin
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Finland.|Department of Adolescent Psychiatry, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Helsinki, Finland.|Institute of Clinical Medicine, Child Psychiatry, University of Turku, Finland.|National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Anu
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Raevuori
authors.affiliation: Departments of Psychiatry and Nutrition, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, North Carolina.|Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden.
authors.forename: Cynthia M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Bulik
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, Helsinki University Central Hospital, Finland.
authors.forename: Aila
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rissanen
authors.affiliation: Parnassia Psychiatric Institute, The Hague, The Netherlands.|Department of Psychiatry, Groningen University, The Netherlands.|Department of Epidemiology, Columbia University, New York.
authors.forename: Hans W
authors.initials: HW
authors.lastname: Hoek
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Finland.|National Institute for Health and Welfare, Helsinki, Finland.|Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland FIMM, University of Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Jaakko
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kaprio
authors.affiliation: Department of Public Health, University of Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Keski-Rahkonen
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000856:Anorexia Nervosa / Q000175:diagnosis*; D002648:Child; D015331:Cohort Studies; D039721:Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D011379:Prognosis; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014427:Twins; D055815:Young Adult
keywords: anorexia nervosa; epidemiology; outcome; prognosis; twin study