Epidemiology of eating disorders in Western countries

Eating disorders are prevalent in women and men of all ages, across all socioeconomic groups, from people of diverse cultural backgrounds. They represent an important public health problem and have high incidence among adolescents and young adults. While the overall incidence rate of anorexia nervosa remained stable over the past decades, the incidence of anorexia nervosa is increasing in younger girls (<15years). The highest estimated mean annual prevalence of eating disorder overall occurs at approximately age 21 years in women and men, and 95% of first-time cases occur by age 25 years The occurrence of eating disorders is associated with other psychiatric and somatic disorders. In this chapter, we focus on the epidemiology of eating disorders in terms of prevalence, incidence, distribution and determinants, and comorbidities.