The Follow-Up of Eating Disorders from Adolescence to Early Adulthood: A Systematic Review

Caterina Filipponi, Chiara Visentini, Tommaso Filippini, Anna Cutino, Paola Ferri, Sergio Rovesti, Emanuela Latella and Rosaria Di Lorenzo ()
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Caterina Filipponi: School of Nursing, Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy
Chiara Visentini: Service of Psychiatric Diagnosis and Care (SPDC), Department of Mental Health and Drug Abuse, AUSL, 41126 Modena, Italy
Tommaso Filippini: Environmental, Genetic and Nutritional Epidemiology Research Center (CREAGEN), Section of Public Health, Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy
Anna Cutino: School of Psychiatry, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy
Paola Ferri: School of Nursing, Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy
Sergio Rovesti: Department of Biomedical, Metabolic and Neural Sciences, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy
Emanuela Latella: School of Psychiatry, University of Modena and Reggio Emilia, 41125 Modena, Italy
Rosaria Di Lorenzo: Service of Psychiatric Diagnosis and Care (SPDC), Department of Mental Health and Drug Abuse, AUSL, 41126 Modena, Italy

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 23, 1-19

Abstract: Eating disorders (EDs) are common among children and adolescents and are characterized by excessive concerns for physical appearance, distorted body image, and fear of gaining weight. The purpose of this review is to evaluate the follow-up of EDs from adolescence to adulthood, analyzing persistence, relapses, and associated comorbidities. We searched scientific articles in PubMed, PsycInfo, Scopus, and Embase through two research strings, one for quantitative outcomes (recovery/persistence, relapse, and remission) and one for the other outcomes (psychiatric and medical comorbidities, substance use, and social–relational complications). From a total of 8043 retrieved articles, we selected 503 papers after exclusion of duplicates and title/abstract screening. After a full-text evaluation, we included 16 studies eligible for this review. We performed a meta-analysis describing the quantitative results, and we created a narrative synthesis for the qualitative outcomes. Results: Our results confirm that EDs can persist in early adulthood in 40.7% of cases with a relapse percentage of 24.5%. Individuals with an ED more frequently present with an empathy deficit and comorbid anxiety and depressive disorders. EDs are chronic and complex disorders, more frequent in females. In most cases, EDs reduce the autonomy of individuals who present many difficulties in affirming their independence from parental family.

Keywords: anorexia nervosa; bulimia nervosa; adolescence; eating disorders; medical and psychiatric comorbidity; substance use; social–relational complications (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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