Are there differences between men and women in outcome of intensive inpatient treatment for anorexia nervosa? An analysis of routine data.

Objective: Anorexia nervosa (AN) in men is rare and understudied. We compared admission characteristics and response to specialized inpatient treatment between men and women with AN.

Method: One hundred sixteen consecutive male patients with AN were matched to 116 female patients. Patients completed the self-rating Structured Inventory for Anorexic and Bulimic Syndromes (SIAB-S) at admission and discharge. Differences at admission and in treatment response were examined with independent samples t-tests and ANOVA for repeated measures, respectively.

Results: Men had lower body mass index (BMI)-percentiles (Cohen's d = -0.55), higher levels of weight suppression (d = 0.65), and higher scores in the SIAB-S general psychopathology and social integration scale (d = 0.47) at admission. There were no differences in response to treatment except for changes in BMI-percentile (F = 4.49, p = 0.035).

Conclusions: There were more similarities than differences between genders in AN. Because this similarity might be confounded with traditionally "feminine" conceptualizations of AN, further studies of male AN are needed.