Getting an accurate idea of the prevalence and other facts about eating disorders is difficult. Physicians, reports Anorexia Nervosa and Related Eating Disorders, Inc. (ANRED), aren't obligated to report eating disorders. This fact, coupled with the secretiveness of people with eating disorders and their lack of recognition that they have a problem, makes it difficult to gain an accurate idea of the prevalence of eating disorders in the U.S.
As a result of the difficulties in information gathering, estimates about the prevalence of eating disorders varies. According to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), in 2005, 10,000,000 Americans were suffering from an eating disorder. The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD) suggests that 7,000,000 women and 1,000,000 men are affected by eating disorders in America. It is also estimated that between 3.6% and 12.9% of the American population as a whole suffer from an eating disorder at some time in their lives, according to the Eating Disorders Coalition (EDC) report from the APR Work Group on Eating Disorders.
In the teen population, between 2.5 and 4% of teens have either anorexia nervosa or bulimia nervosa, EDC reports from the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. For 76%, according to ANAD, the age at onset is between 11 and 20. ANAD's Ten Year Study revealed that for most people the duration of their eating disorder was between 1 and 15 years. About a third of the people who responded reported a duration of 1 to 5 years. It also showed that, while many people recover from all three types of eating disorder, anorexia in particular has the highest mortality rate among mental illnesses. When people with anorexia die, it is usually from complications such as cardiac arrest, suicide, or electrolyte imbalance, according to the National Institute of Mental Health.
ANRED reports that as many as 20% of cases, people with serious eating disorders, do die while close to 60% of people with any sort of eating disorders recover. At the same time, ANRED points out clearly that reliable long-term data on lengthy recoveries is not available, so these figures should be considered speculative.
The New York University Wellness Exchange pinpoints college as a time of challenge. The report that about 20% of college-aged women feel stressed in a way that brings up issues of control and feelings of being out of control. This can develop farther into an eating disorder.
Teen Eating Disorder Statistis Sources:
- nationaleatingdisorders.org/p.asp?WebPage_ID=320&Profile_ID=95634
- eatingdisorderscoalition.org/reports/statistics.html
- anred.com/stats.html
- anad.org/site/anadweb/content.php?type=1&id=6982
- nyu.edu/999/faqs/bodyimage.html
- nimh.nih.gov/publicat/eatingdisorders.cfm#ed4
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