An international treatment trial for sufferers of chronic anorexia nervosa involving Sydney, London and Chicago is a world first.
Anorexia Nervosa is a serious mental illness associated with high levels of disability and psychiatric disturbance, affecting around two per cent of the female population worldwide and a smaller yet rising proportion of young men.
Chronic anorexia nervosa (C-AN), is defined here as the duration of anorexia nervosa for more than seven years. C-AN currently has the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, of around 20 per cent after 20 years.
Through their illness, sufferers of C-AN have disproportionately high levels of unemployment, multiple medical complications and repeat admissions to medical facilities, at a huge cost to the health system. They are also are intensive users of GP services and the welfare system.
'Advances in the treatment of anorexia nervosa have been limited in part by a lack of vigorous systematic enquiry,' said primary investigator Professor Stephen Touyz from the University of Sydney's School of Psychology. 'The lack of treatment research in this field means that a study of this kind could set Australia apart as a world leader in treatment research and C-AN' he said.
The international randomised control trial, which is led by Professor Touyz, will involve 90 outpatients, with interventions conducted at the University of Sydney and the University of London. Data management for the project will be conducted at the University of Chicago.
The project aims to establish the first effective outpatient treatment for C-AN by: