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In honor of #mentalhealthawareness month, here we highlight #IJED papers that serve as a reminder that eating disorders are serious mental health concerns in need of continued rigorous research (an IJED thread 1/7)
Perhaps most strikingly, mortality rates from eating disorders are as high as or higher than any other psychiatric illness. Suicide attempt and completion rates are also alarmingly high (2/7): https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/eat.23240
Eating disorders do not travel alone; they are associated with a host of other mental health concerns. This study, conducted in Taiwan, found more that half of patients with an eating disorder had another psychiatric diagnosis (3/7): https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/eat.22970
Many people with eating disorders struggle to achieve long-term recovery. In this study, only 40% of individuals with anorexia nervosa met criteria for fully remission after 20 years (4/7): https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/eat.22736
The personal financial and economic costs of eating disorders are tremendous. When considering economic costs and reduced wellbeing, U.S. totals reach nearly $400 billion/year (5/7): https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/eat.23486
On the encouraging side, people with eating disorders DO recover, highlighting a need for research to understand how and why. In this article, ~1/2 of people with long-standing eating disorders at least partially recovered over prolonged follow-up (6/7): https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/eat.23495
These articles highlight why ongoing eating disorder research is needed. Eating disorders research is currently underfunded, necessitating increased efforts in this important area of mental health (7/7): https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/wps.20465
