Changing profile of eating disorders between 1963 and 2004 in a Japanese sample

The purpose of this study was to investigate possible changes in the demographic and clinical characteristics of Japanese patients with eating disorders using a consecutive series of patients who presented at Kyoto University Hospital between 1963 and 2004. We also studied cultural factors related to eating disorders over time.

We completed a retrospective review of a cohort of patients using a checklist based on the DSM-5 diagnostic criteria. Patients seen from 1963 to 1974 (Period I, n = 26), 1975 to 1984 (Period II, n = 97), 1985 to 1994 (Period III, n = 540), and 1995 to 2004 (Period IV, n = 700) were compared.

In this study, patients with restrictive eating appeared in the early 1960s. Patients with binge eating and purging behaviors appeared in the mid-1970s and thereafter increased over time. The number of patients with anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa dramatically increased in Period III. The proportion of patients with binge eating increased, while the proportion of patients with restrictive eating decreased over time. All patients with anorexia nervosa in the 1960s had fat phobia and disturbed body image, but none of them reported dieting for slimness.

The prevalence and clinical characteristics of patients with eating disorders significantly changed across the four time periods. In terms of cultural factors, present findings suggest that factors beyond industrialization, modernization and westernization may be necessary for the development of eating disorders, and these factors may change with the times.