Many, if not most patients, who meet the diagnostic criteria for bulimia do not access medical help. Of those who do, 45% to 75% recover completely, 27% improve considerably, and 23% have a chronic course. The crude mortality rate is approximately 0.32% to 3.9%.[116]Støving RK, Andries A, Brixen K, et al. Gender differences in outcome of eating disorders: a retrospective cohort study. Psychiatry Res. 2011;186:362-6.[117]Steinhausen HC, Weber S. The outcome of bulimia nervosa: findings from one-quarter century of research. Am J Psychiatry. 2009 Dec;166(12):1331-41.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19884225?tool=bestpractice.com
[118]Lavender JM, De Young KP, Franko DL, et al. An investigation of the joint longitudinal trajectories of low body weight, binge eating, and purging in women with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Int J Eat Disord. 2011 Dec;44(8):679-86.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22072404?tool=bestpractice.com
[119]Keel PK, Gravener JA, Joiner TE Jr, et al. Twenty-year follow-up of bulimia nervosa and related eating disorders not otherwise specified. Int J Eat Disord. 2010 Sep;43(6):492-7.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19718666?tool=bestpractice.com
[120]Crow SJ, Peterson CB, Swanson SA, et al. Increased mortality in bulimia nervosa and other eating disorders. Am J Psychiatry. 2009 Dec;166(12):1342-6.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19833789?tool=bestpractice.com