Clinical Characteristics of Inpatients with Childhood vs. Adolescent Anorexia Nervosa

Charlotte Jaite; Katharina Bühren; Brigitte Dahmen; Astrid Dempfle; Katja Becker; Christoph U Correll; Karin M Egberts; Stefan Ehrlich; Christian Fleischhaker; Alexander von Gontard; Freia Hahn; David Kolar; Michael Kaess; Tanja Legenbauer; Tobias J Renner; Ulrike Schulze; Judith Sinzig; Ellen Thomae; Linda Weber; Ida Wessing; Gisela Antony; Johannes Hebebrand; Manuel Föcker; Beate Herpertz-Dahlmann

doi:10.3390/nu11112593

Clinical Characteristics of Inpatients with Childhood vs. Adolescent Anorexia Nervosa

Nutrients. 2019 Oct 28;11(11):2593. doi: 10.3390/nu11112593.

Authors

Charlotte Jaite¹, Katharina Bühren², Brigitte Dahmen³, Astrid Dempfle⁴, Katja Becker^{5

6}, Christoph U Correll^{7

8

9}, Karin M Egberts¹⁰, Stefan Ehrlich¹¹, Christian Fleischhaker¹², Alexander von Gontard¹³, Freia Hahn¹⁴, David Kolar¹⁵, Michael Kaess^{16

17}, Tanja Legenbauer¹⁸, Tobias J Renner¹⁹, Ulrike Schulze²⁰, Judith Sinzig²¹, Ellen Thomae²², Linda Weber²³, Ida Wessing²⁴, Gisela Antony²⁵, Johannes Hebebrand²⁶, Manuel Föcker^{27

28}, Beate Herpertz-Dahlmann²⁹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, 13353 Berlin, Germany. [email protected].
² Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, RWTH Aachen, 52074 Aachen, Germany. [email protected].
³ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, RWTH Aachen, 52074 Aachen, Germany. [email protected].
⁴ Institute of Medical Informatics and Statistics, Kiel University, 24105 Kiel, Germany. [email protected].
⁵ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Philipps-University Marburg and University Hospital Marburg, 35039 Marburg, Germany. [email protected].
⁶ Center for Mind, Brain and Behavior (CMBB), Philipps-University Marburg, 35032 Marburg, Germany. [email protected].
⁷ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, corporate member of Freie Universität Berlin, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, and Berlin Institute of Health, 13353 Berlin, Germany. [email protected].
⁸ The Zucker Hillside Hospital, Department of Psychiatry, Northwell Health, Glen Oaks, NY 11004, USA. [email protected].
⁹ Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine, Department of Psychiatry and Molecular Medicine, Hempstead, NY 11549, USA. [email protected].
¹⁰ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Wuerzburg, 97080 Wuerzburg, Germany. [email protected].
¹¹ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry & Division of Psychological & Social Medicine and Developmental Neurosciences, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany. [email protected].
¹² Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University Medical Center Freiburg, 79104 Freiburg, Germany. [email protected].
¹³ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Saarland University Hospital, 66421 Homburg, Germany. [email protected].
¹⁴ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, LVR-Hospital Viersen, 41749 Viersen, Germany. [email protected].
¹⁵ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, University Medicine of the Johannes Gutenberg-University, 55131 Mainz, Germany. [email protected].
¹⁶ Clinic of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Center for Psychosocial Medicine, University Hospital Heidelberg, 69115 Heidelberg, Germany. [email protected].
¹⁷ University Hospital of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Psychotherapy, University of Bern, 3000 Bern, Switzerland. [email protected].
¹⁸ LWL University Hospital Hamm for Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Ruhr University Bochum, 59071 Hamm, Germany. [email protected].
¹⁹ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Tuebingen, 72076 Tuebingen, Germany. [email protected].
²⁰ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry/Psychotherapy, University Hospital, University of Ulm, 89075 Ulm, Germany. [email protected].
²¹ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, LVR-Klinik Bonn, 53111 Bonn, Germany. [email protected].
²² Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Technische Universität Dresden, 01307 Dresden, Germany. [email protected].
²³ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, Philipps-University Marburg and University Hospital Marburg, 35039 Marburg, Germany. [email protected].
²⁴ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Muenster, 48149 Muenster, Germany. [email protected].
²⁵ Central Information Office KKNMS, Philipps-University Marburg, 35112 Bellnhausen, Germany. [email protected].
²⁶ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany. [email protected].
²⁷ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital Muenster, 48149 Muenster, Germany. [email protected].
²⁸ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychotherapy, and Psychosomatics, University Hospital Essen, University of Duisburg-Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany. [email protected].
²⁹ Department of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, Psychosomatics and Psychotherapy, University Hospital, RWTH Aachen, 52074 Aachen, Germany. [email protected].

Abstract

We aimed to compare the clinical data at first presentation to inpatient treatment of children (<14 years) vs. adolescents (≥14 years) with anorexia nervosa (AN), focusing on duration of illness before hospital admission and body mass index (BMI) at admission and discharge, proven predictors of the outcomes of adolescent AN. Clinical data at first admission and at discharge in 289 inpatients with AN (children: n = 72; adolescents: n = 217) from a German multicenter, web-based registry for consecutively enrolled patients with childhood and adolescent AN were analyzed. Inclusion criteria were a maximum age of 18 years, first inpatient treatment due to AN, and a BMI <10th BMI percentile at admission. Compared to adolescents, children with AN had a shorter duration of illness before admission (median: 6.0 months vs. 8.0 months, p = 0.004) and higher BMI percentiles at admission (median: 0.7 vs. 0.2, p = 0.004) as well as at discharge (median: 19.3 vs. 15.1, p = 0.011). Thus, in our study, children with AN exhibited clinical characteristics that have been associated with better outcomes, including higher admission and discharge BMI percentile. Future studies should examine whether these factors are actually associated with positive long-term outcomes in children.

Keywords: BMI; adolescents; anorexia nervosa; children; clinical characteristics; outcome.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Aging
Anorexia Nervosa / therapy*
Child
Female
Hospitalization
Humans
Inpatients*
Male
Patient Discharge