Contrary to common opinion, eating disorders (DCA) can also lead to the death of affected individuals due to their relative complications.
Some studies in the literature indicate that anorexia nervosa has the highest mortality rate of any other psychiatric disorder in young women; however, other sources contest its veracity and report a standardized mortality ratio (Standardized Mortality Ratio - SMR) lower than normal (0.71).
- What is the Standardized Mortality Report or SMR?
- The SMR is the ratio between the number of observed death cases and the number of expected cases. In practice, it expresses the surplus (SMR> 1) or lack (SMR <1) of deaths between the group under examination and the comparative population.
A 2005 study entitled " The mortality rate from anorexia nervosa " examined the SMR of a sample of patients with anorexia nervosa (AN). The treatment time of the persons involved was around twenty years (1981-2000) and the analyzed group is composed of 954 patients, of which 326 with a diagnosis of AN maintained during the 20 years. For anorexia nervosa, the SMR was 10.5.
Contrary to some reports in the literature, this work confirms a high mortality rate in the AN population.
