Original articleAn Eleven Site National Quality Improvement Evaluation of Adolescent Medicine-Based Eating Disorder Programs: Predictors of Weight Outcomes at One Year and Risk Adjustment Analyses
Section snippets
Methods
In March 2008, a total of 11 Adolescent Medicine Eating Disorder Programs across the United States started a comparison of basic information by performing a retrospective chart review of their patients who had low body weight and a restrictive ED, who presented between January 1, 2006, and December 31, 2006, had at least three follow-up appointments, and were followed up for ≥8 months. The follow-up visit that was closest to 1 year from the intake visit (between 8 and 15 months after intake)
Results
Data on 267 patients (254 females and 13 males) were collected from 11 sites, with the number of patients at each ranging from a minimum of six patients at site K to a maximum of 51 patients at site H. The mean number of patients per site was 24. Table 1 shows sites A through K displayed with the mean BMI of patients at intake and at follow-up, which is not age-adjusted. All sites were able to increase BMI over the year of follow-up, and the change was statistically significant. The mean
Discussion
The present study is the first national multisite comparison study assessing weight recuperation in patients with restrictive EDs treated at adolescent medicine-based programs. Our analyses indicated that all programs involved in this QI evaluation were similarly effective in improving the weight of their patients when risk adjustment was made for patient severity at presentation. The two factors which were found to be significant predictors of weight recovery were duration of symptoms at
Conclusion
This national collaborative is the first of its kind for assessing outcomes across multiple adolescent medicine-based ED programs. The findings were unable to show that there are significant differences between program outcomes, but do highlight the efficacy of all programs in facilitating recovery. The factor common to the programs is that they are adolescent medicine-centered. Adolescent medicine-based ED programs are able to successfully increase weight of outpatients with restrictive EDs
Acknowledgments
The authors thank the faculty, staff, and research assistants at all of the participating sites who made this national collaboration possible. They also thank Nicole McKenzie for her efforts in helping with the preparation of the manuscript.
The study was supported in part by LEAH number T71MC00009, LEAH number T71MC00011, MCHB, HRSA.
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