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Predictors of Treatment Outcome in Eating Disorders: A Roadmap to Inform Future Research Efforts

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Abstract

Purpose of Review

With the current review, we provide a brief summary of recent literature that tests clinically observable characteristics at baseline that may impact treatment response, across eating disorder diagnoses. We then provide a critical discussion regarding how researchers may shift their approach to this research to improve treatment implications and generalizability of these findings.

Recent Findings

Recent work has broadly replicated prior findings suggesting a negative impact of lower weight status, poor emotion regulation, and early-life trauma on eating disorder treatment outcomes. Findings are more mixed for the relative contributions of illness duration, psychiatric comorbidity, and baseline symptom severity. Recent studies have begun to explore more specific domains of previously tested predictors (e.g., specific comorbidities) as well as previously neglected identity-related and systemic factors. However, recent research continues to use similar sampling techniques and approaches to analysis used in prior work.

Summary

We propose that resolving remaining questions and illuminating predictors of treatment outcome in eating disorders requires a new approach to research sampling and study design. Suggested changes that can be applied within a traditional clinical trial framework may yield new insights with relevance across transdiagnostic eating disorder presentations.

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Funding

Drs. Gorrell and Reilly are supported by the National Institutes of Mental Health (K23MH126201 and K23MH131871, respectively).

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  1. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of California, San Francisco, 675 18Th St, CA, 94143, San Francisco, USA

    Sasha Gorrell, Lisa Hail & Erin E. Reilly

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  1. Sasha Gorrell
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  2. Lisa Hail
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Correspondence to Sasha Gorrell.

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Gorrell, S., Hail, L. & Reilly, E.E. Predictors of Treatment Outcome in Eating Disorders: A Roadmap to Inform Future Research Efforts. Curr Psychiatry Rep 25, 213–222 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11920-023-01416-w

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