Huge Jump in Eating Disorders

Posted Apr 6, 2009 by Donna Koehn

Updated Apr 6, 2009 at 08:58 AM

Hospitalization for eating disorders in children under 12 is up a whopping 119 percent.

This is terrible news, and suggests that anorexia and bulimia are affecting kids in grade school in ever-greater numbers—even though such young children only account for 5 percent of all people with these disorders. The statistics were tracked between 1999 and 2006 by the federal government’s Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.

Hospitalizations for teenagers with eating disorders were up 18 percent.

The study doesn’t offer explanations, only the raw data. It could be that parents and physicians are getting smarter about diagnosing kids and getting them the help they need.  However, I think we all suspect that our culture’s preoccupation with image and beauty is affecting our children in detrimental ways.

The number of men and women requiring a hospital stay for an eating disorder rose 18 percent during that time. After kids under 12, the second steepest rise was for patients 45 to 64, at 48 percent.

Hospitalizations for men increased sharply, by 37 percent. But in 2006, 89 percent of those hospitalized were women.

Admissions for anorexia, the most common eating disorder, remained relatively stable when all ages were considered. People with anorexia typically lose extreme amounts of weight by not eating enough food, over-exercising, self-inducing vomiting or using laxatives.

In contrast, hospitalizations for bulimia declined 7 percent. Bulimia – binge eating followed by purging by vomiting or use of laxatives – can lead to severe dehydration or stomach and intestinal problems.

Hospitalizations for less common eating disorders increased 38 percent. Those disorders include pica, an obsession with eating non-edible substances such as clay or plaster, and psychogenic vomiting, which is vomiting caused by anxiety and stress.

The HCUP Report looked at both insurance and uninsured patients.