The outcome of adolescent anorexia nervosa: Findings from Berlin and Sofia

As part of a multisite collaborative outcome study of eating disorders in adolescence, two samples from West Berlin and Sofia were compared. The study was based on a systematic evaluation of the clinical status during the first inpatient treatment after onset of the disorder, and personal interviews with the former patients at follow-up. Despite the differences in the cultural background, the clinical features, the diagnostic pattern, the developmental histories, the family background, and the follow-up findings were remarkably similar. The mortality rate was higher in the West Berlin than in the Sofia sample. However, the outcome in terms of the distribution of eating disorders was similar in the surviving patients of the two samples.Received M.D. and Ph.D. in psychology at the University of Hamburg, Germany. Major research interests are eating disorders, developmental psychopathology, and neuropsychiatry.Received M.D. at the University of Sofia. Major research interest is in eating disorders.