| "SATURDAY, March 31 (HealthDay News) -- A four-year study of anorexia nervosa by the U.S National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) will begin accepting patients May 1. Anorexia nervosa is a dangerous eating disorder that mostly affects teenage girls. " "The study, which will include New York-Presbyterian Hospital's Westchester Division and five other medical research institutions in the United States and Canada, will examine two early intervention treatment approaches in 240 young people, ages 12 to 18, who've been diagnosed with anorexia. The children's parents will play an important role in the study." ""This is a psycho-physiological disorder characterized by an abnormal fear of becoming obese, a distorted self-image, a persistent unwillingness to eat, and severe weight loss. It is often accompanied by self-induced vomiting, excessive exercising, malnutrition, and other harmful physiological changes," Dr. Katherine Halmi, who will lead the New York-Presbyterian/Westchester team, said in a prepared statement." ""Currently, only a quarter of patients with anorexia nervosa fully recover, and half have partial improvement, but another 25 percent remain chronically ill. There is also a 40 percent rate of relapse," said Halmi, a professor of psychiatry at Weill Cornell Medical College and the founder and director of the New York-Presbyterian/Westchester
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