In This Issue

Premature death was associated with a longer illness duration among 186 adolescent and adult females with anorexia nervosa who were studied for an average of 20 years. Earlier than average death was also related to alcohol abuse, poor social adjustment, and a lower body mass index, according to findings by Franko et al. (CME, p. 917) over the first 10 years of follow-up. All 14 deaths occurred in middle adulthood, and four were by suicide. Mortality in bulimia nervosa was not significantly more common than the population average. Crow’s editorial (p. 824) notes that the current interest in delivering psychotherapies for eating disorders, particularly family therapies, in adolescence should include attention to the early suicide risk in these disorders.