Trends and prevalence of eating disorders in children and adolescents

Background: Eating disorders (EDs) have increasingly become a public health problem globally, especially among children and adolescents.

Aim: To estimate the burden of EDs in children and adolescents (ages 5-19 years) at the global, regional, and national levels.

Methods: Retrieved from Global Burden of Disease Study 2019 for EDs, including anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, we extracted the disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) and prevalence rates with 95% uncertainty intervals between 1990-2019. The temporal trends of the DALYs and prevalence rates of EDs were assessed according to the estimated annual percentage changes.

Results: In our study, we found that the burden of EDs continuously increased globally from 1990 to 2019. Although females accounted for more EDs cases, the burden of EDs in males had a greater increment. Meanwhile, the burden of EDs was associated with the high sociodemographic index (SDI) over the past 30 years and the human development indexes in 2019.

Conclusion: EDs, predominantly in high-income countries, are rising globally, especially in Asia, highlighting the need for resource planning and medical policy prioritization across all SDI quintiles.