Follow-up studies of anorexia nervosa: a review of four decades of outcome research

SYNOPSIS In 1983 we presented a systematic analysis of the available literature on the course of anorexia nervosa (Steinhausen & Glanville, 1983 a ). The survey was based on 45 English and German language studies published between 1953 and 1981. During the past decade there has been a striking increase of publications related to eating disorders in general. This pertains as well to follow-up studies on anorexia nervosa. In addition to studies compiled in our previous report, we were able to locate another 22 follow-up studies published in major English and German language journals between 1981 and 1989.