Long-term effects of enteral feeding on growth and mental health in adolescents with anorexia nervosa-results of a retrospective German cohort study

Background/objective: Anorexia nervosa (AN) is a severe eating disorder with a high mortality rate. Treatment regimes show regional and global variation and are sometimes supported by enteral feeding (EF) via nasogastric tube, although risks and benefits are still unclear. We aimed to find out whether EF improves growth and AN recovery and prevents psychiatric comorbidities. Subjects/methods: Data were retrospectively collected from medical records and follow-up data were collected via questionnaires. Two hundred and eight female AN patients who were hospitalized below the age of 18 years with a mean follow-up of 6 years were analyzed. We calculated relative risks for the association between EF and suboptimal growth, remission of AN and the occurrence of psychiatric comorbidities, adjusting for potential confounders. Results: A third of the analyzed girls received EF at any time. In the adjusted analyses, we found no significant associations between EF and suboptimal growth, the persistence of AN and the occurrence of psychiatric comorbidities, respectively. Conclusion: Our data suggest EF to be neither a risk factor nor beneficial for growth, recovery or persistence of AN and the occurrence of psychiatric comorbidities.