Prevalence and incidence of eating disorders in a suburban area

There has been no previous epidemiological study on anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia (BU) where non-medical care givers have also been included in the case-finding procedure. In this study, psychiatric, somatic, child psychiatric, social and primary care personnel were systematically asked for information on patients. Fifty-one cases of eating disorder (17 AN, 34 BU) according to slightly modified DSM-III criteria were traced in a suburban catchment area of 78,000 inhabitants during a two-year period. This means a two-year prevalence of 66/100,000 (22 AN and 44 BU). For females between 16-24 years the prevalence of AN was 258/100,000; BU: 473/100,000; total 730/100,000 (1/137). There were also 10 "possible cases" where the diagnosis could not be established with certainty, mainly because of insufficient information. If these patients were added, the number of cases would be 61 (or a prevalence of 79/100,000 inhabitants). The one-year incidence for AN was 2.6/100,000 and for BU 3.9. The incidence for AN was 43/100,000 for females 16-24 years old (1/2326). For BU it was 65/100,000 (1/1538). There seems to be no clear social class grouping. Twenty (56%) of the adult patients had been hospitalized for eating disorder during the last six-year period.