A multicenter audit of outpatient care for adult anorexia nervosa: Symptom trajectory, service use, and evidence in support of “early stage” versus “severe and enduring” classification

Background We explored the utility of “staging” anorexia nervosa (AN) by duration of illness and psychological wellbeing. We also investigated 12‐month symptom trajectories and service usage in a large cohort of patients with AN assessed for outpatient treatment. Method We conducted secondary analyses on data from a multisite clinical trial of adults with AN (n = 187) recruited from 22 NHS England specialist eating disorder (ED) services into a digital treatment augmentation study. Clinical outcomes and service use were measured at postintervention (six weeks), 6 and 12 months. We grouped patients into two categories: “early stage” (illness duration