Most Anorexia Patients Partially Recover

Twenty-five percent of anorexia nervosa patients fully recover, 50 percent have partial improvement and 25 percent remain chronically ill, says a U.S. expert.

Dr. Katherine Halmi, an eating-disorders expert at Weill Cornell Medical College in New York, also says the disease has a 40-percent rate of relapse.

We now know genes play a substantial role in determining who is vulnerable to developing eating disorders, Halmi said in a statement. We also know early intervention involving the participation of family members during the adolescent years has proven extremely important in successful treatment.

Anorexia nervosa is characterized by an abnormal fear of becoming obese, a distorted self-image, an unwillingness to eat and severe weight loss often accompanied by self-induced vomiting, excessive exercising, malnutrition and other harmful physiological changes, according to Halmi.

Less than 0.5 percent of all women develop anorexia nervosa, but it has the highest death rate of any mental illness, said Halmi.

Environmental factors such as society’s emphasis on being overly thin may serve as a trigger that increases risk in an individual who is genetically pre-disposed.