Mixture Modeling to Characterize Anorexia Nervosa: Integrating Personality and Eating Disorder Psychopathology.
Karen M Jennings, Lindsay P Bodell, Ross D Crosby and 2 others
PMID 31291805WHAT IT FOUND
Four groups of patients with anorexia nervosa emerged when eating behaviors and personality traits were considered together.
Two groups were more likely to leave intensive treatment with low weight or frequent binge/purge episodes, but a severity measure inside each group did not predict outcomes.
Key findings
01Combining eating behaviors and personality traits produced four patient groups and a severity dimension within each group.
02The anorexia nervosa restricting group and one binge/purge group were more likely than another binge/purge group to have a poor discharge outcome.
03The severity dimension within each group did not predict discharge against medical advice, poor outcome, or readmission.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was done at one academic medical center in a specific eating disorder treatment program, so the groups may not apply to other settings or patients. Two of the four groups had only 21 participants each, so the findings need replication before they are used clinically. It was observational; it did not test a treatment, so it cannot show that personality traits or eating behaviors caused poor outcome. Some relevant behaviors, such as driven exercise, were not included in the model. The groups predicted poor outcome at discharge but did not predict discharge against medical advice or readmission, and the within-group severity dimension did not predict outcomes. Only 158 of 193 participants provided 3-month follow-up data.
Declared interests
The authors declared no potential conflicts of interest. The paper is listed as supported by NIH extramural research.
The easy way to misread this
Do not use these four groups as a validated clinical subtype or assume that changing personality traits will improve outcome. The study was single-site and observational, two groups had 21 participants, and the groups did not predict discharge against medical advice or readmission.