Prevalence and treatment of patients with eating disorders: Data of a german health insurance

INTRODUCTION: Few studies have examined the course of eating disorders and the respective treatments based on insurance data, even though they provide representative information. OBJECTIVES: To assess the epidemiology, treatments, duration of illness, costs of treatment in a data set of a public health insurance. METHODS: Data provided by a German health insurance (data from 4.2 million members from 2005-2010). A matched control group based on age and gender without an eating disorder diagnosis was used for comparisons. RESULTS: 2.734 cases with the diagnoses of an eating disorder (anorexia nervosa AN, bulimia nervosa BN or combination ANBN) were identified. More than 92% of the patients were female. The relative risk for personality disorders, depressive disorders, alcohol abuse and obsessive-compulsive disorders was highly increased. Most of the patients with BN (53.04%) or AN (41.57%) were treated in out-patient care, and many were only treated for three months, whereas most of the patients with ANBN were treated for a longer time. 3-19% with BN, AN or ANBN were treated only in in-patient care. The in-patient costs of treatment for the year of the diagnosis were 5471.15€ for BN, 9080.26€ for AN, 10809.16€ for ANBN and 339.37€ for the control group. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that patients with ANBN diagnosis have a severe and longer course of treatment. Furthermore, contrary to national guidelines for eating disorders, there is a considerable proportion of patients with BN or AN that are treated only in in-patient care. DISCLOSURE: No significant relationships.