A new analysis, published in The Lancet Psychiatry, has shown a lack of strong evidence to support current guidance on psychological therapies for treating anorexia nervosa over expert treatment as usual. The findings highlight a need for further research and support a call for individual trial data to be made available so the benefits of treatments in specific patient populations can be better understood.

Building on a previous study from 2018 and conducted by an international team of researchers, the analysis included 16 randomised controlled trials and a total of 1049 patients. The trials compared psychological therapies to treatment as usual in adults receiving outpatient treatment for anorexia. The trials measured eating disorder symptoms, body-mass index (BMI) and drop-out rate.

The analysis found some therapies to have modest benefit to patients. However, the therapies, currently recommended by the National Institute for Clinical Excellence (NICE) and in clinical guidelines internationally, were not shown to differ significantly from expert treatment as usual.

Understanding the effectiveness of available treatments is particularly important for Anorexia Nervosa because it has one of the highest mortality rates of any psychiatric condition. This analysis highlights the gaps in existing evidence and the urgent need for more and better research into psychological therapies for treating Anorexia.”

Professor Andrea Cipriani, NIHR Professor of Psychiatry and lead author

Because of the relatively low quality and quantity of data available, this analysis should be understood as exploratory rather than confirmatory. However, it highlights the shortcomings of existing research and emphasises the need for more robust data.

We have made progress in understanding the effective non-specific factors that need to be included in any treatment for Anorexia Nervosa. Our future challenge is to develop treatment factors tailored to individual presentations that can be added to the non-specific factors to increase effectiveness of our treatments for the condition.”

Professor Tracey Wade, Mathew Flinders Distinguished Professor of Psychology and lead collaborator on the project

The research was funded by Flinders University and the NIHR Oxford Health Biomedical Research Centre and University of Oxford.