Is Tardive Anorexia a Discrete Diagnostic Entity?

Abstract

A study is described in which patients in three diagnostic groups were compared in an effort to delineate features of tardive anorexia (late onset anorexia nervosa). There were 18 patients in each diagnostic group. Patients with “classical” anorexia nervosa of less than 5 years duration were compared with patients older than 25 who had been chronically ill for more than 5 years and with those in whom the symptoms had begun de novo after the age of 25. Statistically significant differences were found to distinguish the third group as a distinct diagnostic entity. The association of loss precipitants and depressive symptoms has practical implications in the management of true anorexia tardive.