Research Review

Most Teens With Eating Disorders Go Without Treatment

About 3% of U.S. adolescents are affected by an eating disorder, but most do not receive treatment for their specific eating condition, according to a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded study published online in the Archives of General Psychiatry.

Researchers analyzed data from the National Comorbidity Study-Adolescent Supplement, a nationally representative, face-to-face survey of more than 10,000 teens aged 13 to 18. Previously published results found that about 20% of youths are affected by a severe mental disorder, and a substantial proportion of these youth do not receive mental health care.

In this new study, the authors tracked the prevalence of eating disorders and the proportion of those youths who received treatment for these disorders.

According to the data, 0.3% of youths have been affected by anorexia, 0.9% by bulimia, and 1.6% by binge-eating disorder. The researchers also tracked the rate of some forms of eating disorders not otherwise specified (ED-NOS), a catch-all category of symptoms that do not meet full criteria for specific disorders but still impact a person’s life. ED-NOS is the most common eating disorder diagnosis. Overall, another 0.8% had subthreshold anorexia, and another 2.5% had symptoms of subthreshold binge-eating disorder.

In addition, Hispanics reported the highest rates of bulimia, while whites reported the highest rates of anorexia. The majority who had an eating disorder also met criteria for at least one other psychiatric disorder such as depression. Each eating disorder was associated with higher levels of suicidal thinking compared with those without an eating disorder.

The prevalence of these disorders and their association with coexisting disorders, role impairment, and suicidal thinking suggest that eating disorders represent a major public health concern. In addition, the significant rates of subthreshold eating conditions support the notion that eating disorders tend to exist along a spectrum and may be better recognized by doctors if they included a broader range of symptoms. In addition, the findings clearly underscore the need for better access to treatment specifically for eating disorders.

— Source: National Institute of Mental Health