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Anorexia Statistics

by Alison Cole

Different types of anorexia affect as many as 5% of all young women in the United States, and three times the percentage are women who have unhealthy attitudes and behaviors about food. Reports have indicated that in women who suffer from anorexia, the onset of the disorder can be traced back to the age of twenty. When a study surveyed sixth-grade female students, it revealed that 70% of them became weight conscious between the ages of nine and eleven. This trend, revealed in the same study, led these girls to start dieting by the time they were in were in middle school.

Other studies have indicated that that males account for approximately 5% to 10% of patients with anorexia nervosa and 10% to 15% of patients with bulimia nervosa. Possible risk factors for the development of eating disorders in males include homosexuality, dieting, participation in a sport that emphasizes thinness, and a premorbid history of obesity. Differences from eating disorders in females include onset of bulimia at a later age and a higher prevalence of premorbid obesity. But, in all, anorexia in males is far less common than in females, often resulting in clinicians overlooking the possibility of the disorder. Nevertheless, however small the size may be, approximately 1 million American boys and men are grappling with eating disorders.

Of all the anorexics, 86% report onset of illness by the age of twenty, 43% between ages of sixteen and twenty, 33% between ages of eleven and fifteen, 10% at ten years or younger. The statistics are alarming, and it is believed that over someone's lifetime, at least 50,000 individuals will die as a direct result of their eating disorders. If not treated, up to 20% of them will die as a result of serious eating disorders; and if treated, the occurrence of death can be reduced to as little as 2% to 3%.

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