We share our outcomes with you

Choosing where to bring your child for care is a major decision. We understand you want all the information you can get. And you want it in a clear, straightforward form that helps you make the right choice for your family.

That’s why we share our outcomes with you. In medicine, “outcomes” measure the end results of a treatment. By comparing our outcomes with those of other hospitals, locally and nationally, you can see how we rank in terms of keeping patients safe and healthy.
See how Children’s ranks on six quality of care measures. Learn more.

Continuing research on eating disorders treatments

At Children’s Minnesota, we focus on research and innovations that make a difference at the bedside and in our clinics. From improving day-to-day quality of life for children and teens, to developing new pain management approaches and adopting cutting-edge technologies, our research is completely kid- and family focused.

The Center for the Treatment of Eating Disorders (CTED) has a longstanding partnership with Dr. Daniel Le Grange, Benioff UCSF Professor in Children’s Health in the Department of Psychiatry and Department of Pediatrics. Dr. Le Grange served as a research consultant to the CTED program for 6 years as we completed an effectiveness trial comparing Family-Based Treatment (FBT) to Enhanced Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT-E) for adolescents. This research was able to be completed thanks in large part to the Goven family foundation and their extremely generous commitment to our program. Results from this trial underscored the efficiency of FBT to facilitate weight gain among underweight adolescents. Additionally, FBT and CBT-E achieved similar outcomes in other domains assessed, making CBT-E a viable treatment for adolescents with an eating disorder. The main outcomes of the effectiveness trial were recently published in December 2020, and have received significant attention in the field, scoring in the top 5% of all research outputs scored by Altmetric.

  • Le Grange, D., Eckhardt, S., Dalle Grave, R., Crosby, R. D., Peterson, C. B., Keery, H., … & Martell, C. (2020). Enhanced cognitive-behavior therapy and family-based treatment for adolescents with an eating disorder: a non-randomized effectiveness trial. Psychological medicine, 1-11.

At CTED, all clinicians have been trained in FBT and CBT-E (as well as our other offered treatments) and have received extensive consultation and supervision from the developers of these treatments. Our clinicians and researchers are also working with experts to evaluate and develop new and innovative treatments for children and adolescents with all eating disorders, including Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID).

CTED is engaged in many types of eating disorder research, including investigator-initiated studies (led by a Children’s psychologist) and registries. Research studies are ongoing in our clinic, but read more about our eating disorder research below:

  • Burton, C., Allan, E., Eckhardt, S., Le Grange, D., Ehrenreich-May, J., Singh, M., & Dimitropoulos, G. (2021). Case presentations combining family-based treatment with the unified protocols for transdiagnostic treatment of emotional disorders in children and adolescents for comorbid avoidant restrictive food intake disorder and autism spectrum disorder. Journal of the Canadian Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, 30(4), 280.
  • Le Grange, D., Eckhardt, S., Dalle Grave, R., Crosby, R. D., Peterson, C. B., Keery, H., … & Martell, C. (2020). Enhanced cognitive-behavior therapy and family-based treatment for adolescents with an eating disorder: a non-randomized effectiveness trial. Psychological medicine, 1-11.
  • Dalle Grave, R., Eckhardt, S., Calugi, S., & Le Grange, D. (2019). A conceptual comparison of family-based treatment and enhanced cognitive behavior therapy in the treatment of adolescents with eating disorders. Journal of Eating Disorders, 7(1), 1-9.
  • Eckhardt, S., Martell, C., Lowe, K. D., Le Grange, D., & Ehrenreich-May, J. (2019). An ARFID case report combining family-based treatment with the unified protocol for Transdiagnostic treatment of emotional disorders in children. Journal of eating disorders, 7(1), 34.
  • Duncombe Lowe, K., Barnes, T. L., Martell, C., Keery, H., Eckhardt, S., Peterson, C. B., … & Le Grange, D. (2019). Youth with avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder: examining differences by age, weight status, and symptom duration. Nutrients, 11(8), 1955.
  • Keery, H., LeMay-Russell, S., Barnes, T. L., Eckhardt, S., Peterson, C. B., Lesser, J., … & Le Grange, D. (2019). Attributes of children and adolescents with avoidant/restrictive food intake disorder. Journal of Eating Disorders, 7(1), 31.
  • Smith, K., Lesser, J., Brandenburg, B., Lesser, A., Cici, J., Juenneman, R., … & Le Grange, D. (2016). Outcomes of an inpatient refeeding protocol in youth with Anorexia Nervosa and atypical Anorexia Nervosa at Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota. Journal of eating disorders, 4(1), 35.

Additionally, researchers at the Center of the Treatment of Eating Disorders are active in presenting research at conferences, both nationally and internationally. Recent presentations have included:

  • Della Longa, N., Lee, D., Eckhardt, S., Martell, C., Keery, H., Garber, A. & Le Grange, D. (June 2022). Comparative Clinical Outcomes for Adolescents with Atypical Anorexia Nervosa or Anorexia Nervosa. Academy of Eating Disorders International Conference on Eating Disorders. Virtual conference. Paper presentation.
  • Eckhardt, S., Burton, C., & Dimitropoulos, G. (June 2021). Integrating Family Based Treatment with the Unified Protocols for the Treatment of Emotional Disorders in Children and Adolescents: An International Collaboration to Develop a Flexible Treatment for Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder. Academy of Eating Disorders International Conference on Eating Disorders. Virtual conference. Workshop presentation.
  • Le Grange, D., Eckhardt, S., Dalle Grave, R., Crosby, R. D., Peterson, C. B., Keery, H., … & Martell, C. (June 2021). Enhanced cognitive-behavior therapy and family-based treatment for adolescents with an eating disorder: a non-randomized effectiveness trial. Academy of Eating Disorders International Conference on Eating Disorders. Virtual conference. Paper presentation.
  • Duncombe Lowe, K., Barnes, T., Keery, H., Eckhardt, S., Peterson, C., Lesser, J., & Le Grange, D. (April 2018). Just how different are avoidant restrictive food intake disorder subtypes? Academy of Eating Disorders International Conference on Eating Disorders. Chicago, IL. Paper presentation.
  • Lesser, J.K., Eckhardt, S., Le Grange, D., & Ehrenreich-May, J. (June 2017). Integrating Family-Based Treatment with the Unified Protocol for the Transdiagnostic Treatment of Emotional Disorders: a novel treatment for Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder. Academy of Eating Disorders International Conference on Eating Disorders. Prague, Czech Republic. Clinical teaching day workshop presentation.
  • Keery, H., Russell, S., Barnes, T., Eckhardt, S., Beadle, A., Juenemann, R., Nickel, A., Peterson, C., Lesser, J., Le Grange, D. (June 2017). Gold Standard Assessment in the Real World: AN, Atypical AN and ARFID. Academy of Eating Disorders International Conference on Eating Disorders. Prague, Czech Republic. Poster presentation.
  • Ehrenreich-May, J., Eckhardt, S., Lesser, J.K., & Le Grange, D. (May 2017). Family-Based Treatment (FBT) and the Unified Protocols (UP) for ARFID. San Francisco, CA. Workshop training.
  • Lesser, J.K., Ehrenreich-May, J., Eckhardt, S., Le Grange, D., Brandenburg, B. (November 2016). Integrating Family-Based Treatment with the Unified Protocol for Avoidant Restrictive Food Intake Disorder. Minneapolis, MN. Workshop training.
  • Lesser, J.K., Brandenburg, B., Smith, K., Keery, H., Eckhardt, S., Lantz, E., Lesser, A., Beadle, A., Juenemann, R., Braaten, N., LeGrange, D., & Lock, J. (May 2016). Outcomes of Family Based Treatment Across Diagnoses in a Community Clinic Sample. Academy of Eating Disorders International Conference on Eating Disorders. San Francisco, CA, USA. Poster Presentation.
  • Cici, J., Lesser, A., Lesser, J.K., Brandenburg, B., Eckhardt, S., Reicks, E., LeGrange, D., & Lock, J. (May 2016). Outcomes of an Inpatient Refeeding Protocol in Youth with Anorexia Nervosa. Academy of Eating Disorders International Conference on Eating Disorders. San Francisco, CA, USA. Oral presentation.