ReviewJournal of eating disorders2021
Efficacy of post-inpatient aftercare treatments for anorexia nervosa: a systematic review of randomized controlled trials.
Review in Journal of eating disorders, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 17 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
17 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 25 citations in OpenAlex.
- Inpatient treatments for adults with anorexia nervosa: a systematic review of literature.Eating and weight disorders : EWD · 2024Pooled it
- Cognitive behavioral therapy for eating disorders: A map of the systematic review evidence base.The International journal of eating disorders · 2023Pooled it
- Therapist-Guided Smartphone-Based Aftercare for Inpatients With Severe Anorexia Nervosa (SMART-AN): A Randomized Clinical Trial.The International journal of eating disorders · 2026Trial
- Digital augmentation of aftercare for patients with anorexia nervosa: the TRIANGLE RCT and economic evaluation.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2025Trial
- Long-Term Effectiveness of Inpatient and Day-Hospital Treatment of Eating Disorders in Departments of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy in Germany.European eating disorders review : the journal of the Eating Disorders Association · 2026Observational
- Continuity of care: time to first outpatient appointment after child and adolescent psychiatric hospital stays in Germany.BMC health services research · 2026Article
- Bridging inpatient and community treatment: feasibility, acceptability, and short-term outcomes of step care, a virtual CBT-E pathway for adults with severe eating disorders.Journal of eating disorders · 2026Article
- Co-producing an inclusive-care model for young people transitioning from adolescent eating disorder services to adult care: A qualitative study protocol for Transition for Eating Disorder Youth intervention.European eating disorders review : the journal of the Eating Disorders Association · 2026Article
- Perceived carer skills and psychological distress in fathers and mothers of adults with anorexia nervosa: a longitudinal study.Journal of eating disorders · 2025Article
- Patient and carer feedback and engagement with ECHOMANTRA, a digital guided intervention for anorexia nervosa.European eating disorders review : the journal of the Eating Disorders Association · 2025Article
- A systematic review and meta analysis on digital mental health interventions in inpatient settings.NPJ digital medicine · 2024Article
- Article
- Development and usability testing of a cognitive-behavioral therapy-guided self-help mobile app and social media group for the post-acute treatment of anorexia nervosa.Eating behaviors · 2024Article
- Comparison among anorexia nervosa adolescents with or without previous overweight, obese, and healthy adolescents.Frontiers in psychiatry · 2024Article
- The alarms should no longer be ignored: survey of the demand, capacity and provision of adult community eating disorder services in England and Scotland before COVID-19.BJPsych bulletin · 2023Article
- Integrated enhanced cognitive behavioural (I-CBTE) therapy significantly improves effectiveness of inpatient treatment of anorexia nervosa in real life settings.Journal of eating disorders · 2022Article
- Does anorexia nervosa with adolescent onset need long-term follow-up?Pediatric endocrinology, diabetes, and metabolism · 2022Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
14 authors at 10 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundEarly relapse after inpatient treatment is a serious problem in the management of anorexia nervosa (AN). Specialized aftercare interventions have the potential to bridge the gap between inpatient and outpatient care, to prevent relapse and to improve the long-term outcome for patients with AN.
methodsFollowing the guidelines of the PRISMA statement, we conducted a systematic review, synthesizing the evidence from randomized-controlled trials (RCTs) investigating the efficacy of post-inpatient aftercare treatments for AN.
resultsOur search resulted in seven RCTs and three registered ongoing trials. Pharmacotherapy and low-threshold guided self-help have limited uptake and high dropout. Novel mobile guided self-help approaches seem promising due to high patient satisfaction, but their efficacy has yet to be investigated in larger trials. Cognitive-behavior psychotherapy may be beneficial in delaying relapse, but evidence is based on a single study.
conclusionOnly a limited number of RCTs investigating aftercare interventions for patients with AN is available. There is no clear evidence favoring any one specific approach for post-inpatient aftercare in adult patients with AN. The field faces many challenges which generally affect intervention research in AN. A specific issue is how to increase uptake of and reduce dropout from aftercare interventions. This calls for better tailoring of interventions to patient needs and the integration of patient perspectives into treatment. Intensified research and care efforts are needed to address the problem of recurrent relapse after intensive inpatient treatment for AN and to eventually improve prognosis for this eating disorder.
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Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.