Clinical characteristics of medically hospitalized youth with anorexia nervosa/atypical anorexia nervosa and premorbid overweight/obesity

ABSTRACT

Youth with anorexia nervosa (AN) or atypical anorexia nervosa (AAN) and premorbid overweight/obesity are particularly vulnerable to diagnostic delays, yet research about this patient subset is lacking. This study aimed to compare mental health and demographic characteristics of patients with AN/AAN and premorbid overweight/obesity to patients with premorbid normal weight. Retrospective chart review identified 253 patients (aged 10–22) hospitalized for medical complications of AN/AAN between 2013 and 2020, including 29.6% (n = 75) with and 70.4% (n = 178) without premorbid overweight/obesity. Analyses revealed that patients with AN/AAN and premorbid overweight/obesity were more often cisgender male (24% vs. 8.4%), diagnosed with AAN (62.7% vs. 32%), and had lost a greater percent of body weight (29% vs. 16.4%) than premorbid normal weight counterparts. No significant differences were found for illness duration (10.1 months vs 9.3 months), psychiatric comorbidities (42.7% vs. 32.2%) or psychotropic medication use (25.3% vs. 19.2%), past mental health treatment (44.6% vs. 37.5%), or family history of eating disorders (22.7% vs. 20.8%). Our findings suggest that when relying on historical records, patients hospitalized for medical complications of AN/AAN have similar characteristics across the weight spectrum.

Data availability statement

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.