Overview
- Within 12 months of diagnosis, patients had roughly 6× higher risk of kidney failure, nearly 7× for liver disease, 6× for osteoporosis, 2× for heart failure, and 3× for diabetes.
- The risk of death was more than four times higher in the first year, with fivefold higher odds of unnatural death and a nearly 14× increase in suicide that remained about threefold at 10 years.
- Elevated physical risks persisted: at five years, renal and liver disease remained 2.5 to nearly 4 times higher, with roughly 110 and 26 extra cases per 10,000 respectively by 10 years.
- The study tracked 24,709 people aged 10–44 with eating disorders matched to 493,001 controls, most of them female, with diagnoses spanning anorexia, bulimia, binge-eating disorder, and many unspecified cases.
- Authors and editorialists urged primary care–led, multidisciplinary monitoring across physical and mental health services and highlighted rising UK incidence since COVID-19 restrictions and gaps in clinician training.