Worldwide prevalence of eating disorders increased since 2000

(HealthDay)—Eating disorders are highly prevalent worldwide, especially among women, according to research published in the May issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.

Marie Galmiche, from Normandy Rouen University in France, and colleagues conducted a systematic literature review (2000 to 2018) to identify studies examining the prevalence of eating disorders and assess trends.

The researchers identified 94 studies with an accurate eating disorder diagnosis and 27 with a broad eating disorder diagnosis. The weighted means of lifetime eating disorders were 8.4 percent for women and 2.2 percent for men among the 94 studies with an accurate eating disorder diagnosis. For 12-month eating disorder prevalence, the weighted means were 2.2 percent for women and 0.7 percent for men. The weighted means of point eating disorder prevalence increased from 3.5 percent for 2000 to 2006 to 7.8 percent for 2013 to 2018. By geography, the weighted means of point prevalence were 4.6 percent in America, 2.2 percent in Europe, and 3.5 percent in Asia. An additional 27 studies reported the prevalence of eating disorders as broad categories, yielding weighted means of total point prevalence of any eating disorder of 19.4 percent for women and 13.8 percent for men.

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