Premature termination of inpatient eating disorder treatment: Does timing matter?

BACKGROUND: Premature termination of treatment is a serious problem in the treatment of eating disorders. Prior research attempting to differentiate patients who are able to complete treatment from those who terminate early has yielded mixed results. One proposed explanation for this is a failure to examine the time course of treatment termination. This study was designed to explore associations between baseline patient characteristics and timing of treatment termination. METHODS: Participants were 124 eating disorder patients admitted voluntarily to the inpatient program at Toronto General Hospital between 2009 and 2015. At admission, all patients completed measures of eating disorder symptoms, eating disorder cognitions, depressive symptoms and emotional dysregulation. Body weight was measured weekly. Data analyses were completed using one-way ANOVAs and Chi Square tests. RESULTS: Results showed significant associations between timing of treatment termination and eating disorder diagnosis, severity of eating disorder cognitions and severity of depressive symptoms. Post-hoc analyses revealed that patients who left treatment early had more severe depressive symptoms, eating disorder cognitions related to eating and difficulties engaging in goal directed behaviors when emotionally dysregulated. CONCLUSIONS: Patients who terminated inpatient treatment early in their admissions differ from patients who terminated later and those who completed treatment. These differences have potential clinical implications for the clinical management of patients with severe eating disorders requiring inpatient admission. Trial registration This paper is not associated with a clinical trial.

Patients being unable to complete inpatient treatment is serious problem in the treatment of eating disorders. Prior research attempting to identify differences between patients who can complete treatment and those who cannot has had mixed results. This study was designed to explore whether patients who leave treatment at different times differ from each other. To do this we compared eating disorder symptoms, eating disorder thoughts, depressive symptoms and emotional regulation symptoms of patients who left treatment early (0­4 weeks), later (after 4 weeks but before completion) and those who completed treatment. Results showed that patients who left treatment early reported the most severe eating disorder beliefs and depressive symptoms. They also had the most difficulties engaging in goal directed behaviours when experiencing intense emotions. They were not found to have differences in body weights or rates of eating disorder behaviors (i.e. self-induced vomiting). These results suggest that patients who leave treatment early are the most unwell and may benefit from learning emotional regulation skills prior to, or early in, treatment.

The Ethical Defensibility of Harm Reduction and Eating Disorders.

Eating disorders are mental illnesses that can have a significant and persistent physical impact, especially for those who are not treated early in their disease trajectory. Although many persons with eating disorders may make a full recovery, some may not; this is especially the case when it comes to persons with severe and enduring anorexia nervosa (SEAN), namely, those who have had anorexia for between 6 and 12 years or more. Given that persons with SEAN are less likely to make a full recovery, a different treatment philosophy might be ethically warranted. One potential yet scarcely considered way to treat persons with SEAN is that of a harm reduction approach. A harm reduction philosophy is deemed widely defensible in certain contexts (e.g. in the substance use and addictions domain), and in this paper we argue that it may be similarly ethically defensible for treating persons with SEAN in some circumstances.

Deep brain stimulation of the subcallosal cingulate for treatment-refractory anorexia nervosa: 1 year follow-up of an open-label trial.

BACKGROUND: Anorexia nervosa is a life-threatening illness. Brain circuits believed to drive anorexia nervosa symptoms can be accessed with surgical techniques such as deep brain stimulation (DBS). Initial results suggest that DBS of the subcallosal cingulate is safe and associated with improvements in mood and anxiety. Here, we investigated the safety, clinical, and neuroimaging outcomes of DBS of the subcallosal cingulate in a group of patients during 12 months of active stimulation. METHODS: We did this prospective open-label trial at the Department of Surgery of the University of Toronto (Toronto, ON, Canada). Patients were eligible to participate if they were aged 20-60 years and had a diagnosis of anorexia nervosa (restricting or binge-purging subtype) and a demonstrated history of chronicity or treatment resistance. Following a period of medical stabilisation, patients underwent surgery for DBS and received open-label continuous stimulation for the entire 1 year study duration. The primary outcome was safety and acceptability of the procedure. The secondary outcomes were body-mass index (BMI), mood, anxiety, affective regulation, and anorexia nervosa-specific behaviours at 12 months after surgery, as well as changes in neural circuitry (measured with PET imaging of cerebral glucose metabolism at baseline and at 6 and 12 months after surgery). This trial was registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01476540. FINDINGS: 16 patients with treatment-refractory anorexia nervosa were enrolled between September, 2011, and January, 2014, and underwent DBS of the subcallosal cingulate between November, 2011, and April, 2014. Patients had a mean age of 34 years (SD 8) and average illness duration of 18 years (SD 6). Two patients requested that their devices be removed or deactivated during the study, although their reasons for doing so were poorly defined. The most common adverse event was pain related to surgical incision or positioning that required oral analgesics for longer than 3-4 days after surgery (five [31%] of 16 patients). Seven (44%) of 16 patients had serious adverse events, most of which were related to the underlying illness, including electrolyte disturbances. Average BMI at surgery was 13·83 (SD 1·49) and 14 (88%) of the 16 patients had comorbid mood disorders, anxiety disorders, or both. Mean BMI after 12 months of stimulation was 17·34 (SD 3·40; p=0·0009 vs baseline). DBS was associated with significant improvements in measures of depression (mean Hamilton Depression Rating Scale scores 19·40 [SD 6·76] at baseline vs 8·79 [7·64] at 12 months; p=0·00015), anxiety (mean Beck Anxiety Inventory score 38·00 [15·55] vs 27·14 [18·39]; p=0·035), and affective regulation (mean Dysfunction in Emotional Regulation Scale score 131·80 [22·04] vs 104·36 [31·27]; p=0·019). We detected significant changes in cerebral glucose metabolism in key anorexia nervosa-related structures at both 6 months and 12 months of ongoing brain stimulation. INTERPRETATION: In patients with chronic treatment-refractory anorexia nervosa, DBS is well tolerated and is associated with significant and sustained improvements in affective symptoms, BMI, and changes in neural circuitry at 12 months after surgery. FUNDING: Klarman Family Foundation Grants Program in Eating Disorders Research and Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Subcallosal cingulate deep brain stimulation for treatment-refractory anorexia nervosa: a phase 1 pilot trial.

BACKGROUND: Anorexia nervosa is characterised by a chronic course that is refractory to treatment in many patients and has one of the highest mortality rates of any psychiatric disorder. Deep brain stimulation (DBS) has been applied to circuit-based neuropsychiatric diseases, such as Parkinson's disease and major depression, with promising results. We aimed to assess the safety of DBS to modulate the activity of limbic circuits and to examine how this might affect the clinical features of anorexia nervosa. METHODS: We did a phase 1, prospective trial of subcallosal cingulate DBS in six patients with chronic, severe, and treatment-refractory anorexia nervosa. Eligible patients were aged 20-60 years, had been diagnosed with restricting or binge-purging anorexia nervosa, and showed evidence of chronicity or treatment resistance. Patients underwent medical optimisation preoperatively and had baseline body-mass index (BMI), psychometric, and neuroimaging investigations, followed by implantation of electrodes and pulse generators for continuous delivery of electrical stimulation. Patients were followed up for 9 months after DBS activation, and the primary outcome of adverse events associated with surgery or stimulation was monitored at every follow-up visit. Repeat psychometric assessments, BMI measurements, and neuroimaging investigations were also done at various intervals. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01476540. FINDINGS: DBS was associated with several adverse events, only one of which (seizure during programming, roughly 2 weeks after surgery) was serious. Other related adverse events were panic attack during surgery, nausea, air embolus, and pain. After 9 months, three of the six patients had achieved and maintained a BMI greater than their historical baselines. DBS was associated with improvements in mood, anxiety, affective regulation, and anorexia nervosa-related obsessions and compulsions in four patients and with improvements in quality of life in three patients after 6 months of stimulation. These clinical benefits were accompanied by changes in cerebral glucose metabolism (seen in a comparison of composite PET scans at baseline and 6 months) that were consistent with a reversal of the abnormalities seen in the anterior cingulate, insula, and parietal lobe in the disorder. INTERPRETATION: Subcallosal cingulate DBS seems to be generally safe in this sample of patients with chronic and treatment-refractory anorexia nervosa. FUNDING: Klarman Family Foundation Grants Program in Eating Disorders Research and Canadian Institutes of Health Research.