Relationship between suicidal behavior and eating disorders: a systematic review

Objective: This paper offers a systematic review of the literature on eating disorders and the relationship with suicidal behavior. Methods: Searches were performed in the Medline, Lilacs, Adolec and Pubmed databases for articles published between 2003 and 2014. Results: Anorexia nervosa was the most often cited eating disorder in the articles selected. In cases of bulimia nervosa, suicide attempts and self-aggression were more frequent among those who use multiple compensation behaviors. Behavior disorders, emotional disorders and chemical dependency were described as risk factors in all publications. Conclusion: Despite the small number of studies performing an in-depth investigation into the relationship between eating disorder and suicidal behavior, the concomitant presence of these conditions places the health of patients at greater risk.