Each month our editorial team sifts through hundreds of papers and curates notable findings—for practitioners and informed readers who want to stay current with the evidence. Subscribe to the monthly Research Digest for expert analysis and concise summaries of key papers.
This fact sheet reports that people with eating disorders have higher death rates than the general population. Death rates are highest for anorexia nervosa (AN). Bulimia nervosa (BN) and eating disorder not otherwise specified (EDNOS) have similar death rates. The sheet says older age at assessment was linked to higher…
This review looked at smartphone apps made for treating eating disorders. The authors found that research on whether these apps work is scarce. They also found that most existing apps include few proven treatment methods and do not use the special abilities of smartphones (like real-time interaction and sensors). The…
In a study of 1,298,890 women in Quebec, 5,169 who had been hospitalized for anorexia nervosa were followed up to March 31, 2018. Women with hospital-treated anorexia had higher death rates over time than women without anorexia. The higher risk was strongest in the first 10 years after hospitalization and…
This review looked at research on exercise addiction from 2010 to 2022. It says there are over 1,000 papers, but exercise addiction is not a formal clinical diagnosis. Many studies use scales and questionnaires that mix up true addiction with high commitment or exercise used for other problems (like eating…
This study surveyed 211 young adults about exposure to “fitspiration” or athletic images on social media and how that related to their body esteem. It found 37% of participants said such images lowered their self-esteem, with women more likely to report this (p = 0.004) and gender also linked to…
